Deliria Lovedoll and the Mortal Kombat Tournament
by Cetanu the Wraith Master
Summary: The summer after first year, Delira Lovedoll, criminal persona of the Girl-Who-Lived, has been invited to the Mortal Kombat Tournament, where she will join with her enemies to stop the threat of an Outworld Invasion. Fem!Harry, Dark!Harry. Side fic to "Deliria". Multiple cameos and appearances from fiction outside Harry Potter and Mortal Kombat.
1. Chapter 1 - Boat Ride

_**Disclaimer:**_ _I own nothing. Other people own things, especially the things found in this fanfiction. This includes characters and concepts from Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, Hellboy, BloodRayne, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dresden Files._

 _ **NOTE:**_ _This story is a side story to my Harry Potter fanfic, Deliria, set just after Alice's first year at Hogwarts. While this fic can potentially be read separately, it is recommended to read that story first before continuing._

 ** _Deliria Lovedoll and the Mortal Kombat Tournament_**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Boat Ride**

Despite it being in the early half of the July, the night at the dock had become foggy and cool and Deliria had a sense that the supernatural was at work. There were plenty of spells for messing about with the weather, so that wasn't so surprising.

The white haired, black eyed Deliria Lovedoll was rather tall for a woman, standing taller than most men. She wore black robes with a hood up over her head, covering the shiny silver circlet she wore on her head. Beneath the robes, the Locket of Slytherin was hidden, along with her glamour coin safely locked inside it. She looked youthful, perhaps in her early twenties, and lithe beneath her robes.

Of course, Deliria was merely a disguise, hiding the girl who was born as Alice Lily Potter, but self-identified as Alice Lily Marvolo Potter Riddle, after absorbing the bit of soul that had once belonged to the Dark Lord Voldemort and assimilating his memories. While sharing many similarities to her spiritual father, the girl was definitely her own person. While she cultivated her identity of Alice Potter within Hogwarts as child celebrity and hero, she also built up an alternative identity of a rising figure in the world of Magical British Crime in Deliria Lovedoll.

And it was this persona that had been invited into the Mortal Kombat Tournament. The Dark Lady in the making had only accepted the invitation as she would prefer other Dark Sorcerers of the world did not enact their plans of opening up a portal to some hell dimension beyond her control and unleashed some sort of doomsday plot that could destroy the world. She preferred to rule a still living world, thanks.

Her full understanding of what this Tournament really meant was incomplete, but from what she could tell Shang Tsung, a nearly six hundred year old sorcerer who sustained himself through application of soul magic that even she found slightly intimidating, was under the belief that he needed to have his champion win the Mortal Kombat Tournament ten times in a row in order to unleash an invasion force from another dimension into their own.

While Alice did not have a belief in the gods he seemed to believe would interfere with such an invasion without this tenth victory, she was willing to exploit those beliefs and stop this plan, preferably by kill the champion and going happily back home.

She hadn't expected many more people to have received this invitation, but was surprised to find many people, including what appeared to be several muggles in the sorts of outfits she would associate with martial arts movies. Even more surprising were a few among the collective of invitees she recognized. One face she was surprised to see in public at all, let alone here, was one Fenrir Greyback, a rather infamous werewolf who fancied himself to be a Revolutionary, but often came across as a thug with a thing for children. He didn't ACTUALLY have a thing for children, he just targeted them under a philosophy that younger meant easier to separate from humanity. He was surrounded by a small pack of werewolves, or at least, Deliria assumed them to be werewolves.

It was even harder to imagine who he'd be rubbing shoulders with, as Deliria recognized several members of the Order of the Phoenix. Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, she remembered them well, especially Albus, as she had only recently stolen the Philosopher's Stone from him, as well as the mirror he had been hiding it in. With her hood up, the group didn't notice her immediately. While not a member of the order as far as she could recall, Filius Flitwick had apparently joined them for the Tournament.

There were a witch and a wizard with them that she didn't know immediately from her memories of Tom's life, though the scruffy looking wizard was staring daggers at Greyback, who upon noticing him had smirked in return. "Well, well, Lupin, the little wolf who fancies himself to still be a man," he growled in his deep voice. "Come on your master's leash, dog?"

Ah, Remus Lupin, the werewolf, now she remembered him. She woman she couldn't think a name of still, though, and she supposed she might have to wait to learn it, or never manage to learn it at all. The wizard werewolf growled and looked ready to start something. "Now, now, gentlewizards, I've heard we aren't supposed to fight before the tournament," Deliria told them before anything happened, slipping her hood down and smirking at the wizards.

"Ah, Miss Lovedoll," said Albus Dumbledore, obviously surprised to see the thief again. "I didn't expect your participation in this event."

"To be honest, I didn't expect yours either, Dumbledore," she told him. "I was told killing was encouraged, and I know that would trouble your soft heart."

"It is a rather important matter, I'm told, and I think I am capable of at least showing some mercy where others would have none."

"Important. Yes, mad sorcerers and opening dimensional rifts into hell dimensions would certainly warrant concern, from both of us."

"Then for this we are allies, then?" questioned Snape curiously, his face impassive despite it being the first time he had met the woman, hiding his full interest in someone who had the skill to duel with the Dark Lord and then escape Dumbledore when he stumbled upon the scene.

"I believe so," she agreed.

"Well, you humans are on your own on that end," said Greyback with a rather fierce grin. "I'm playing for the other team."

"Ah, sorry that I'll likely be killing you then," Deliria told him with a sweet smile. "Unlike Dumbledore here, I plan to hold nothing back. I am told this little island is outside the law, so I get to let loose without worrying about getting higher on the wanted list. Oh, Scabior says hi, by the way."

While the lighter aligned wizards looked at her rather coldly for her willingness to fling around dark magic, Fenrir let out a bark of a laugh. "Oh, your that girl that bastard's workin' for, eh? Heard about you. Maybe you'll prove to be more fun to beat down then these little lightweights."

"Too bad you came to this," she mused. "I always wanted a pet wolf." He scowled at that and looked about to say something when a ship came out of the mist and had them all turn to it. The only sound was the creaking of the wood. The ship looked old, with a dragon as its figure head and an interesting seal on its sails of what looked like a stylized Chinese Fireball head. A ramp was lowered to the dock.

"All kombatants shall board," came a voice, and the guards looked to be wearing black and white masks with pointed edges, several wielding what looked to be spears. She couldn't tell which one had spoken, but decide to be the first one up the ramp. She liked being first. The ship appeared to be rather empty of anyone but guards at the moment, but would start filling with her fellow combatants quickly. The deck of the ship looked larger than the ship itself had from looking at it, but while the apparently muggle martial artists looked like they were trying to wrap their heads around that with confusion, she brushed it off as a simple expansion charm. If there were muggles in this, there was likely going to be a lot of death coming when the fighting began.

"How long until we arrive at the island?" she asked one of the guards.

"Two stops first to gather the remaining kombatants before going to the island. It will not be long."

The mist began to get thicker around the boat as it set sail back into the sea. Alice suspected the mist obfuscated some fantastical method of travel. She knew very little about eastern magic, which had developed into several different variations that most of Europe consider anywhere from archaic to radical. While Japan and India had been partially westernized, much the rest had an eclectic mix of ancient and different traditions.

Rumors and sources were from the area were inconsistent in European accounts, either talking them up as miracle workers or putting them down as archaic remnants of an inefficient and sometimes savage path. She was likely going to learn plenty of new and interesting things while she was on this trip. She might technically be here on a heroic save the world quest, but she could be a little selfish and find other treasures to bring back home along the way.

Deliria leaned over the side of the boat and looked into the mist, and at the side of the boat, trying to find some runes or signs of enchantment that might clue her in. From the water she could see, they didn't appear to be moving faster than an average boat, so she couldn't assume increased speed was how they were moving about the world.

"Fascinating," she heard from a nearby old man muttering to himself. Albus Dumbledore was sharing her view of the mist.

"Not sure what my eye is seeing," mumbled Mad-Eye.

"Just seems like a misty night on the sea to me," said the witch Alice still didn't identify.

"We're stopping by America and then China," Deliria told them, having already been informed of the other destinations beforehand. "It's obvious we're getting there faster somehow if it won't take long."

"I do believe we have slipped out of our own world," Dumbledore said. "None of you felt it?"

Deliria hadn't been feeling for anything like that, and she was not sure quite how. "How so?"

"Ever read about magical transportation before apparition became quite so common? There are written historical accounts of wizards who claimed to have learned to travel through the Faelands and arrive at different points of the human world faster than they would normally."

"Fae? As in Sidhe fae?" she mused. "Disappeared centuries ago."

"Indeed," said Dumbledore. "But that doesn't mean that method of transportation did not exist or has been closed off to us. I simply haven't heard of anyone using it in the modern age."

"Interesting," Deliria whispered, staring at the mist in renewed interest.

"The Nevernever has a few convenient waterways," said a voice, and Deliria was surprised when she turned to see Shang Tsung had appeared to join them. He was very quiet and stealthy when he wanted to be, and Deliria would have to remember that. "Mass transit is made much easier with it."

"So we're really travelling through fairy holes like in old tales?" Lupin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Apparently," mused Deliria. "Good thing we aren't running into any fae, though."

"The Sidhe tend to avoid the boat," Shang Tsung informed her.

"They still exist?" Deliria asked curiously. While several magical species around today were known to be descended from the legendary fae of old, they had seemingly disappeared from the world in the fifteenth century, and the Sidhe were assumed to have gone extinct.

"Is Lord Raiden one of them?" Dumbledore asked, and Deliria found herself curious who that was.

"Raiden," and Shang Tsung said his name with a sneer, so he must be an enemy. "Is a god. A lesser one, but one nonetheless."

Deliria scoffed at the very notion. Dumbledore, for all that he was an old fool in some ways, shared her skepticism with his eyes. Deliria had to avoid showing her surprise when the sound of thunder clapped before them and a bright light caused her to flinch. A man appeared, wearing white robes with a blue vest, and a straw hat. His eyes appeared white, but unlike Shang Tsung's cloudy mysteriousness, this man's eyes showed with electricity.

"Belief is not required, only the willingness to defend our world," he told them with a booming voice that was as attention grabbing as thunder. The man that would claim to be a god then looked at Shang Tsung, who glared back but began to quietly step away. "You best be careful around Shang Tsung. He only plays by his own rules when he cannot get away with altering them."

"So that was Shang Tsung," whispered Dumbledore.

"He didn't invite you?" Deliria wondered aloud.

"I invited them," Raiden informed her. "As Shang Tsung has tried to recruit warriors who might follow him, I have sought out those who would oppose him."

"And yet he invited me," Deliria mused.

"Some he invited to have eliminated at the Tournament rather than stand in the way of his master afterwards. That and he would like to increase the numbers of souls to feed on during the Tournament wherever possible." Deliria took note that Shang Tsung apparently had a boss he answered to himself, a piece of information she had lacked before now.

"Souls to feed on?" asked Lupin incredulously.

"The man is over five hundred years old," Deliria told him. "He uses particularly powerful soul magic to sustain himself, to the detriment and imprisonment of his victims. He's as bad as a dementor, to be honest." She would never be unable to see that living prison that was that man, nor his hungry gaze when he took a look at her twisted souls. It was rather disturbing. "If you ever feel bad about killing him, Dumbledore, best to remember that little fact."

The disgusted frown on Dumbledore's face told her he might even consider it.

The boat ride seemed to continue quietly soon after that, and four the next fifteen minutes, Deliria was still trying to understand this particular method of travel. This time she had been watching out for the feeling of the air just slightly buzzing with a light touch of magic as the fog lessened around them and a shore line with another dock.

Once more a ramp was lowered, and one of the guards shouted for people to begin boarding. As before, most of those brought on seemed to be martial artists of a wide variety of disciplines. One man in sunglasses and a phone who seemed vaguely familiar was looking less serious then others, wearing sunglasses and a stack of unsigned autographs he brought on bored. This bit of arrogance was surprisingly awarded by a few of the muggles already asking for some. She heard mention of movies and thought she must have seen him in a video store with Megan on a cover somewhere.

That tiny mystery solved, Deliria went back to paying attention, and for anyone that boarded that looked like they might be worth a better look, she legilimized, and noticed she was not the only one, and Dumbledore and Severus were also looking several people in the eyes with intense concentration on their faces.

On occasion, she caught a muggles thoughts, and knew they were at the American stop. A few robes showed off the odd wizard entering into the frey, and a few recognized the famous Dumbledore quickly and began to pester him, though he was quite genial about the whole affair. A couple more familiar faces from the war began to appear, and she recognized the red demon known as Hellboy walking on deck with some woman she didn't know, and just behind him was a leather clad woman known to the Death Eaters as Blood Rayne, a rather vicious dhampir that had killed a few Death Eaters but was better known to hunt down their vampire allies.

"I ask for protection as an Observer from the Watcher's Council," she heard, and spun her head.

"The Slayers here then," she mumbled. A quick glance near the well-dressed man that must be the Watcher, she found a young woman who couldn't be out of her teens yet, but she already had the vicious eyes of a killer, and the way she focused her attention on certain individuals, Deliria wondered if a few vampires had slipped in among the Americans.

"There has been a Slayer in eight out of the last nine Mortal Kombat Tournaments," said the voice of Shang Tsung, who apparently liked slipping behind her so much that she now held herself back from spinning towards him. The man was a tricky bastard. "Of course, as none became Champion, I assume you can guess what happened to them." She could practically hear his lips smirking smugly before he went off to wherever he went. She had the strangest feeling he liked talking to her, and that felt… creepy.

Whatever forces Shang Tsung had on his side in this proxy war, they must have been dangerous foes to slay so many Slayers. That was important to keep in mind.

"We should pay more attention to when he disappears," Dia, the sapient Diadem of Ravenclaw, told her in her mind. Deliria silently agreed but continued to look for interesting figures in the meantime.

She spotted a few vampires now that she was looking for them, various kinds and clans included. The Sabbat, the Red Court, Order of Auralius, many such vampiric organizations had representatives. Some of the easiest to spot were the Cult of Kagan, some of which did not look quite human in the first place. She imagined a few of them were interested in siding with Outworld, but she couldn't be sure that all of them would.

Even when the crowd flooding the boat the ramp had yet to be pulled up for several more minutes, until a man with was looked to be a metal plate over one eye that was glowing red rushed up and sprinted into the crowd. "Come on!" called a woman's voice as she rushed up the ramp, and Deliria could see a blonde with a gun out and wearing a muggle military uniform. She was followed by a similarly dressed and armed black man, but as they scanned the crowd, she saw Shang Tsung appear in front of them and grab their weapons.

"No fighting before the tournament," he said, and then disappeared again with a flash of flame. Deliria's eyes widened and she glanced at Dumbledore who looked more shocked then she did. The only thing she knew that could apparate like that were some races of demon, and Phoenixes.

The ramp pulled up while the woman began shouting, and Deliria wondered if she had been specifically tricked into this. She decided to legilimize her when she could get a glance at her eyes. Military, United States Special Forces, approached by Paranormal Research and Defense when she began to develop… Wandless magic? Deliria blinked, and wondered what things she didn't know about the American Magical World for a moment. How had the woman come into her magic as an adult, or rather, how had Ilvermorny missed her? She assumed they found their witches and wizards in a similar fashion to how Hogwarts did, but she might have taken that for granted.

With this bit of information whirling around her mind, she watched as the fog thickened once more and felt the boat move back into motion between the fabrics of reality. The boat was starting to feel crowded as Delira tucked herself into what was quickly becoming the wizarding corner plus a few special additions.

"These are a lot of muggles walking into their grave," Deliria said thoughtfully, and she could see Dumbledore frowning with a hint of sadness.

"Oh, hey, it's your thief, Albus," said the red headed dhampir Rayne, smiling with all her charm. Deliria smiled back had fought off a few thoughts that slipped in her head from the looks of her.

"You'll know me for more than a little burglary and ghost fighting after this, I imagine," she informed the group who had fought against Voldemort with a smirk.

The trip to China seemed somehow quicker, but once more there were various martial artists coming aboard, but a few had very serious expressions and seemed to put more meaning into this tournament then others. She heard various words and mutterings in Mandarin, and even a couple hints of Japanese from a few who seemed to have made the trip to China just to take the boat to the island.

She didn't bother legilimizing them, as mentally translating their thoughts so she could understand them would have taken more work than a simply glance could allow her. The assortment of martial artists, monks (and there sure were a lot of those), slightly inhuman beings and what looked to be real life ninjas had made the boat quite full.

The boat went on the move for the last time before the Tournament could begin, and this trip took only an additional hour before the ship came out into the night. The island was in view, and the fog disappated away completely as they moved towards the dock. In the distance there looked to be a palace. Several more guards were on the dock, and the combatants and observers were commanded to follow them into the courtyard, where the Tournament would begin.


	2. Chapter 2 - Round 1: FIGHT!

**Chapter 2**

 **Round 1: FIGHT!**

The Courtyard was a stone stage in front of a small seating area and an uplifted platform with a throne. Deliria missed when Shang Tsung had popped up and sat on the throne, which stood between twin statues of wingless Chinese Fireball Dragons and flags with the same insignia that had been on the sail of the ship they had sailed in on. The observers were directed to sit in front of the throne, while the fighters were directed to gather around outside the stage. The Guards began to stand in between the seats and the stage.

Some of the combatants there had already been there, telling her that some of these were those already on Shang Tsung's side. Deliria kept her eye perhaps a little too focused on the loosely clad women among them, but also took note of chalky white skinned man with red runes of unknown origin on his body and his bald head and red jewel at the center of his forehead. Something seemed wrong about him, but she couldn't quite place what it was.

When everyone was where they were supposed to be, Shang Tsung's voice came out over them, and Deliria guessed his voice had been amplified with magic. The man didn't have a wand, and Deliria was beginning to wonder if he did magic with no focus at all.

"Welcome to what will likely be the last Mortal Kombat Tournament," he said with a confident smile. "On this island, there is no law but the rules of the tournament, which you will obey. Do not fear authority or government here, for there is none that can touch you. Not even the Gods themselves would interfere with this tournament or hold you back from killing your opponents.

"The rules are as follows. Every Kombatant is to fight until they are unable to continue the fight, or surrender to their opponent. All fights between Kombatants are to be one on one. You may use any technique or weapon available to you. Any defeated Kombatants that survive are free game. No fights between Kombatants are to be interrupted, under penalty of death. To all who die, your soul is forfeit." His smile took on a new level of hungry menace with those words.

"A fight can occur anywhere on the island, but for the Preliminary fights, we shall begin here in the Courtyard. When I call your names, step up to the stage, and wait for me to give the word to begin."

Throughout the crowd, to those that didn't speak English, a few translators whispered a translations to some of the fighters, and even most of the observers. "Free game," Deliria muttered. "So even if we survive the fight, we're free to be hunted down as long as we're here."

"Well, don't lose," said Mad-Eye Moody beside her, and she gave the man a smirk. That sort of spunk was one reason the man now had a prosthetic leg and eye, but it was impossible to not respect the man's courage if nothing else.

"Now, let Mortal Kombat begin!" A gong sounded, signaling that the tournament had begun.

The first fight called for was between two muggle martial artists. By muggle standards, the fighting was impressive, and neither man held back. There was blood within a few punches, and it only ended with one man unconscious and the other not looking much better. Deliria hadn't seen much proper muggle fighting herself, but she had to admit it looked pretty vicious even if she could have downed either man easily herself.

As they dragged the defeated foe away, Dumbledore couldn't seem to help himself, and with a silent twist he suddenly appeared beside the guards and had his wand to the unconscious man, silent healing spells and an enervate coming on him and within a minute the man was fine. The guards glared at him but Dumbledore pointedly ignored them and helped the man to his feet. He was no healer, but this muggle fight did not give any injuries he could not fix easily, and as he only healed him after the fight, he had broken no rules. The muggles in the crowd were muttering from the display.

"Better not get yourself worn out helping them," Deliria warned when Dumbledore returned.

"I'll be sure to be careful, but I won't abandon anyone I can help to survive this barbarity," he informed her calmly.

"Baraka versus Emmaline Vance!" The witch Deliria had been unable to put a name to until now stepped up to the stage, wand in hand and looking determined.

"Good luck, Emmaline," said Lupin.

"Be careful, definitely some sort of demon," said Mad-Eye.

Baraka was indeed some kind of demon, as far as Deliria could tell. There were many species of demon, from Earth to beyond, and she was hardly an expert. While mostly human in appearance, he had red clowing eyes, pointed ears, and the most monstrous mouth of teeth that seemed to be permanently set between a wide grin and a vicious scowl. His arms also had some sort of spines jagging out here and there. The hairless creature had a predatory look, and seemed like it was out for blood, as most demons were.

"He's a Tarkatan," said Raiden, who appeared with them. "A demon of Outworld, of which Baraka is the most vicious. He possesses blades which come out of his arms. Best to watch for them. He has killed many men, even wizards."

Vance nodded to the so-called god and put her attention solely on the demon warrior before her, her wand at the ready and entering a dueling stance. "FIGHT!" called Shang Tsung, and Baraka began to rush towards her. She sent a stunning spell towards him, but he weaved around it at impressive speed and moved towards melee range, but with a twist she apparated to the far edge of the stage and threw more spells in his direction.

The next two spells Baraka dodged, but the third forced him to block, and that was when the blades Raiden warned of came out, drawing some gasps from the crowd. The blades were as long as his arms and came out of about at the wrist and formed almost parallel to his hands. They looked deadly, and they had magic resistant properties as he used them to deflect spells as he continued forward. She apparated again when he started to come in close.

This time however, Baraka spun at the sound of the crack, and brought his blades together. With a high piercing sound of two blades scraping together, a spark shot out of his blades and towards her. Vance was a quick hand with a wand, however, and put up a shielding spell which successfully blocked it. While she was distracted with the spell-like projectile however, Baraka took a long leap in the air with both blades.

She shot a banishing spell off into him and he want flying back several feet, but as he neared the ground he slammed his blades down and dug into the stone stage to catch himself and remain standing, and with a show of his demonic strength, lifted a chunk of stone from the stage and tossed it with his blades towards Vance.

"Reducto!" she heard, and the chunk of stone evaporated into mist. But Baraka quickly charged through the cloud of earth and his blades at the front of him.

"Emmaline!" she heard called more than once, but as she tried to apparate away, the blades had already reached her belly and she was run through. The witch let out a gasp as the demon began to lifted her up with his blades and she slid further down them. Blood spilled out of her fast, dripping down his blades.

Her gurgling shock was ended as the Tarkatan opened his jaws and bit into her face, before ripping it off. Deliria felt a little queasy, and was reminded why she much preferred a kill to be a bit more… clean. Shock and horror came from her friends and colleagues, and the crowd was mostly silent, except for a few blood thirsty monsters who were now showing themselves to be thoroughly of the for Outworld contingent.

"Baraka wins. Fatality!" said Shang Tsung, who seemed quite pleased with the whole scene. He raised a hand, and a light shine out of Vance's body and shot into him. The ease at which he consumed a soul was rather frightening to Deliria, but not nearly so frightening as the glare from Dumbledore as his magic thickened the air around him.

Tom Marvolo Riddle, despite short duels with the man, had never had a memory of Dumbledore looking so murderous, and Deliria was rather impressed. She didn't think the man had a killing bone in his body, as he had even famously left Grindelwald alive during what most of the world beyond Wizarding Europe knew as World War II. But apparently for Dumbledore there was one thing he would consider a truly unforgivable sin, and the consumption of souls of his friends and allies was that sin.

"I am sorry for your friend," Raiden told him. "I have seen all too many friends lost to this tournament, but try not to lose yourself to grief."

"And for Morgana's sake, use some Unforgivables," muttered Deliria. "No laws out here, so you should damn well try to survive this thing by any means necessary." These people were not her friends, but she would rather not lose any more of her fellow defenders of Earth because they were soft.

"Right you are," growled Mad-Eye, who was one who had approved of the use of Unforgivables during the war, even if he complained that the permission to do so had come far too late. His fellows looked less convinced, but at least one of them had sense. Snape looked stoic, but he probably agreed with her there. "And constant vigilance. Not every demon and monster here will be quite so obvious to begin with."

"Good advice," muttered Dia in Deliria's mind.

After that particularly vicious fight, many of the muggles had started to get cold feet, as they had obviously not fully understood what they had really signed up for. They had expected some danger, and even the possibility of death, but magic and demons and such a brutal killing had not been in their minds. A couple of people dropped out, but when they did they were quickly informed that there would be no boats off the island until the Tournament was finished, and they were now marked as easy prey by the monsters among the crowd.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into," whispered Mister Movie Star. Deliria would feel sorry for them, but none of these muggles were her muggle friends, of which there were very few, and otherwise she honestly considered them lesser beings not worth crying over. Vance at least had her pity as a fellow witch, but her disgust at the brutality was the most she could really feel for anyone else at the moment. Even Voldemort had never played with anyone's soul but his own and that whole thing made her cringe.

As the muggles were smart enough to figure out that running was not really a good option, many settled themselves in for fighting. Shang Tsung cleaned and repaired the arena with a few waves of his hand, confirming her suspicions that he did magic solely without a focus. As Deliria had a talent with wandless magic herself, she knew all the advantages and limitations such a thing entailed and noted it down in case he ever stepped down from his throne.

MKMKMKMKMKMKMK

Lieutenant Sonya Blade was having a rather crappy night. It had started off so well, as it seemed as though the leader of the Black Dragons, Kano, had finally slipped up. But instead, the whole thing had ended up being a trap. After being relieved of her weapons, she and Jax had been informed that the rest of their team were currently being taken prisoner and would be killed if they didn't participate in this blood sport.

As far as she could see, she didn't have a choice. She had already lost one partner to Kano before, and she wasn't going to lose her entire team to these lunatics. She had not been the only one tricked into this thing, as though several people had expected some sort of Martial Arts Tournament, the sudden battle between magician and monster that had ended in a bloody mess had taken them by surprise. Sonya was only slightly less surprised then most people though.

She had developed certain special qualities while she was already in Special Forces, and was even approached about a transfer to a paranormal branch of the government and briefed slightly on what her power meant. She learned a little about wizards and witches and the secret magical world hidden from the normal. But as she had decided to stick with her own career, she had never known much more then that brief understanding.

She knew she was what was referred to as a late bloomer, a witch whose magic developed later in life and tended to have their magic develop into more specialized form then the general spells and curses of the average witch or wizard. For her, that meant it was mostly up to her how she practiced what she could do. She certainly knew she couldn't do anything like that woman had done in her fight, the way she teleported around and fired off her light show. Sonya could do her own light show, but not nearly so much so fast, and doing a few of those took its toll on her stamina.

Something that took less of a toll but a lot practice to work on the reliability of the ability was her enhanced strength and acrobatics. She could practically fly for several seconds in the air, and she could hit very hard for short bursts. If she wanted to, she could tear a guy in half, so control had to be learned before she ever played around with such a thing in the field.

"Sonya Blade!" she heard, though she missed her opponent's name. Jax patted her on the back in a show of support, though his face was just as grim after that last display as hers was. When she stepped up to the stage, which had been magically fixed and showed no signs of the previous carnage. It disturbed her how quickly such a thing could be made to seem like in never happened at all.

Her opponent looked like a normal human being, but she didn't like the smirk on his face or the bloodlust in his eyes.

MKMKMKMKMKMKMK

"Vampire," she heard the Slayer mutter from somewhere in front of Deliria, her eyes focused on the opponent of Sonya Blade.

"Red Court," Mad-Eye confirmed as his magical eye was apparently capable of piercing through the flesh mask.

If Deliria remembered her vampire breeds correctly, the Red Court Vampires, which originated in the Americas, were a type of bat-like demon beneath their flesh masks, which looked like particularly attractive humans. Brutal strength, similarly brutal weaknesses, but none of those weaknesses looked readily available to the blonde who was on stage with one.

She got into a fighting stance, preparing herself, while the vampire just stood still and looked relaxed. "Fight!" called Shang Tsung. In a flash, the vampire had burst forward, jaws open and fangs elongating while his hands moved to restrain her own.

Sonya looked surprised at first but thrust her fist out in front of her, and a pink ring flowed out into his face. The flesh mask seemed to temporarily rip, and revealed the hairy demon beneath the surface as he stumbled back. But she didn't hesitate to press her advantage. She sent one kick into his leg, causing him to trip forward, and as he leaned his head, she quickly sent another kick into that face. This was followed by a spin backhand punch.

The finisher of this combination of blows saw her swiftly lean forward as his body was stumbling back, stand on her hands as she sent her legs around, grabbing him with those legs and then pulling him off his feet and slamming him face first into the ground before letting him go and swiftly rolled away, back to a ready position and watching his form on the ground before Deliria could blink.

"Did she just beat the shit out of a vampire like a Slayer?" she mumbled in shock, and she was not the only one who seemed impressed with the display, but no one could answer her before the vampire was back up, the flesh mask complete dissolved.

The ordinary sized man was now a about a foot taller outside of his flesh mask, the bat demon revealed screeching as he slashed at her face. Blade ducked beneath the swipe and sent an elbow up into the beast's chin. Most people would not willing put any part of their body near a vampire in combat, but she was obviously fighting him like she would anyone else as she threw caution to the wind. The force of her blow seemed to launch the vampire up.

She jumped in the air, obviously propelled by her own innate magic and sending a further flying punch into his gut. Then she grabbed him, and for a moment the two were defying gravity and she spun him about and sent him slamming into the ground. Deliria recognized that the woman was hovering above him for just a second, then let herself fall, slamming into the vampire's neck with her knees then throwing another punch on his face before rolling off. She was once more in a ready position.

This time when the vampire stood up, he was more cautious. The first slam had been a surprise, but the second proved talent to be wary of. "Stand down, or I'll be forced to put you down," she heard the woman tell the vampire. Vampires tended to be prideful creatures, and humans beating them in a contest of strength and offering them a chance to surrender was a sure way to piss one off. The vampire hissed through his fangs and then rushed forward.

This time when she threw a punch to knock him off balance, the vampire had expected it, and grabbed her arm and flung her over his head before smashing her into the ground. "Doesn't feel good, does it, bitch!?" screamed the vampire as he went on top of her and attempted to pin her, but one of her hands slipped into a back pocket and pulled out what looked like pink dust.

She blew the dust into his eyes and the vampire shieked. The moment he tried to wipe the dust out, she was able to get her legs free and began to kick him. The kick sent him upwards again, but she followed the kick with another. Her magic was once more thrusting her upwards with each kick. It looked ridiculous but amazing at the same time before she backflipped away as he fell back to the ground.

Her face seemed to harden as she put a hand to her face and took a breath. A ball of flame came to her hand, and she blew it out as if she were blowing a kiss away. The vampire had gotten up and was rushing her again, enraged, when the ball hit him. Suddenly, the fire had enveloped his entire body. The scream of a dying vampire caused Deliria to flinch at the high pitched shriek that hurt her ears. Some vampires really had a strong set of lungs considering some of them didn't really need those to live.

By the time the body stopped burning, all that was left were bones. So, Red Court Vampires did not just turn into dust on death. Good to remember.

"That is one hell of a witch," Deliria muttered, her inner Dark Lady noting the potential threat of the woman, while her inner child thought that was the coolest thing she'd ever seen. She was still a child sometimes, and one with an apparent interest in her fellow witches kicking ass.

"She's a witch?" asked Lupin breathlessly. "I almost thought there was somehow a second slayer with that kind of strength."

"It appears she's a practitioner of Martial Magic," said Flitwick. "Some magicals learn to channel their magic into their body to enhance their combat potential. Many goblin warriors practice the skill. They tend to lack in wand work, though, but not always."

"Intriguing," said Dumbledore. "I've read something about that, but this is the first I have seen it in action."

Deliria noted that it seemed some of their awe was a touch fake, as if they were trying to distract themselves from the death of a friend. Deliria couldn't blame them for that, but hoped they would keep their heads on when it came to actual fighting, otherwise they would find themselves joining Miss Vance shortly.

It would turn out to not be the last time they witnessed what was termed as Martial Magic either. As the fights went on, there was a mix of muggles fighting muggles in now less spectacular forms of fighting, muggles struggling to survive against monsters and magic, and then magicals fighting with other magicals. Some things she saw actually intimidated Deliria slightly.

One man who looked like a ninja dressed in blue, going by 'Sub-Zero' had frozen a man solid and then shattered him. Dia told her they should look into studying some ice spells when they went back home. The Mister Movie Star turned out to be one of these Martial Magic sorts, as he occasionally glowed green when he thrust himself forward, or lobbed green spells out of his hands. Despite learning his actual name, Deliria continued to keep to nicknames mentally, but soon he was Mister Dick Punch rather than Mister Movie Star.

Her favorites as she became desensitized to the violence quickly became a trio of scantily clad women, one in green, one in blue, and the last in pink. Pink and blue looked like they might be related, though their face masks hid some of their features, and pink had slightly glowing golden eyes with slits for pupils, which told Deliria that she was not human, while the other two seemed human.

No matter how human they seemed, the trio were vicious to their opponents. Jade in green fought of a native American wizard who was a wolf animagus and seemed to use a tomahawk as a focus, striking with lightning from afar and swiping with his focus when close. He died as a wolf with a metal staff thrust through his head before it was pulled off his neck.

Kitana in blue and Mileena in pink both got themselves a couple muggles, and their personalities differed greatly based solely on their opponents. Kitana slashed a neck her her pretty fan weapons like an assassin and left him bleeding out. Quick, efficient, graceful.

Mileena however played with her prey like cats sometimes did with small vermin, poking and prodding with her long, thin knives, and teasing out loud with taunts. She reminded Deliria of Bellatrix Lestrange, and that comparison had her mentally declaring Mileena to be her favorite as the murderess creature danced away from her dead victim with a flourish.

"I just don't understand what society decided a female warrior should wear high heels," wondered Dia.

"The same society that had said warriors wear things like that," noted Deliria mentally. "Not that I'll complain too much." As that thought came out she began to look around. There were several shirtless, potentially attractive men, but Deliria just now noticed how much the women seemed to take up her attention. "Dia, I think I might be developing into a lesbian." She supposed she had always had little thoughts here and there, especially when her thoughts travelled towards a certain Death Eater, but apparently her hormones were beginning to show themselves in full. She had hoped to avoid them a little longer.

"I noticed," her spiritual sibling replied dryly. "You are fairly obvious from my view of you."

Filing that thought away for now, she continued to watch. When Albus Dumbledore was called up, she took another look at the man. The violence and death had drained the warmth out of the man throughout the night. He had never liked violence, and it was hard not to interfere and stop things from going to far every time he knew someone was about to die. That soft heart should have gotten the man killed years ago, but somehow the man kept going.

His opponent was Kano, the man with a metal plate on his face who now also pulled out a knife. The grin of confidence told Deliria he had no idea who the old man he was about to fight really was. The moment the word "Fight!" rang out, he through his knife straight at the old wizard.

With a flick of his wand, Albus Dumbledore turned the knife into a bird that flew off, and then with another flick, a red bolt surged at Kano. Kano rolled out of the way, and fired a beam of light from the red eye within the metal plate on his face. A white shield appeared in front of Albus Dumbledore for a moment before he twisted and appeared behind the man, a quick stunning spell catching him in the back. The whole thing had lasted seconds, and truth be told, Deliria had expected it to be shorter.

Deliria had been standing and watching for hours, and wondered if this would go on 'til the sun rose and beyond, and as she was thinking it, Shang Tsung stood up as a gong shouted. "That shall be enough for the night. Champions of the first round, know that you are safe until the second round begins. Everyone left alive is invited to spend the rest of the night in the Palace. Those who have yet to fight know that any fight with any other competitor anywhere on the island will count as your fight, even outside of this stage." He seemed to smile at that before disappearing in a flash of flames.

The guards began directing and leading them towards the Palace. Deliria knew she wouldn't be able to relax even if she was able to get a few winks of sleep.

 ** _NOTE:_** _Sorry to Emmaline Vance, I needed someone to show off that this was some serious business and… Well… You were minor enough that your death won't be too significant to the future of Deliria. I shall also be keeping a list of deceased named characters. Note that Kano is still alive, though he is officially out of the tournament. That doesn't mean he can't still make trouble for everyone else, though._

 _Emmaline Vance (killed by Baraka)_

 _Nightwolf (killed by Jade)_


	3. Chapter 3 - Exploration

**Chapter 3**

 **Exploration**

The Palace was actually rather beautiful, with an east Asian decor and a lot of room for guests, as it seemed to have been built to house guests for the tournament. As Deliria was lead into the guest chambers, she discovered it was a long hallway with several rooms. The room she claimed as her own had a soft bed and a window out to the moon. "Three days 'til the full moon," she murmured as she looked at it. She hoped some of the werewolves would be long dead before it arrived, as she did not want to be stuck on an island infested with them. She had no wish to become one herself, after all.

The guards also brought them dinner to their rooms, and Delira was surprised to find it was actually quite decent, and wasn't poisoned or anything. She supposed poisoning wouldn't count as much of a fight, at least through the use of food.

When she finished, she began to ward her room off, making sure no one could intrude and attempt to secure an easy victory over her while she slept. She found herself sleeping rather comfortably, not too bothered by the death and destruction she had witnessed in the night.

The next day, she woke up well rested, but feeling slightly odd. It was the first time she slept in her glamour form of Deliria and it felt weird waking up as a full grown woman rather than a little girl. Putting this strangeness aside, she was able to freshen herself up. The room came with a bathroom, with a tub. As a witch, she had charms to prepare herself in the morning, rather than all the various tools the muggles had to use, and she prepared herself for the day. Teeth cleaning charms, hair brushing charms, all it took was her wand in hand. It was good to be a witch, it really was.

She dressed herself in her usual black robes. "Webby?" she whispered. "Megan Webb?" No answer, and that meant there would be no quick way out if things got bad. Her little part house elf was not going to be able to get her out in case of an emergency, nor would she be able to find her for some outside emergency. She was stuck here until this thing was finished.

She stepped out of her room, and quickly decided she would never be without wand in hand, keeping to Moody's advice. She noticed that a few room doors had been broken into, and there had been fights in the night. Apparently the rooms were soundproof, as she hadn't heard a bit of it and none of her wards would have prevented sound from coming through. That or she was a deep sleeper, and she thought that was a more troubling idea.

She approached one of the guards, as they seemed to be the primary tour guides for the whole affair. "When is the proper tournament to reconvene?"

"Three hours from now, barring the Kombatants finishing the first road prematurely," the masked figure told her. "Breakfast is in the hall." He lead her there. The hall was a massive space, where there were three different benches and a high table. "The high table is for observers, the center table for those who have completed their first round, the left table is for those who have not completed their round, and the right is for the defeated but living."

The left and right tables were not as full as they would have been had they eaten here last night, while the center was fuller then it would have been. Moody had gotten a spot in the center, and she didn't doubt it might have solely been the man's more lethal wards that had won him a victory. The Slayer had gotten herself a spot too, though whether someone had attacked her, or she decided to do some slaying in the night, it was hard to say.

Deliria spent little more time studying those who wouldn't be her opponents just yet, and sat with those that might become her opponents any moment now, choosing to sit by the known wizards. "No troubles in the night, I hope," she asked.

"None at all," said Flitwick. "I don't think most of the competitors know how to deal with wards."

"Apparently," she mused. "So, Flitwick, of all the wizards here that I know by reputation, I find you the most surprising to have come. Missed your dueling days?"

"I have, actually, though that's not why I'm here," he told her. "After Raiden made his invitation known, I talked to a few of my goblin cousins. The threat of this tournament is real enough, as Goblin warriors have been dying in it for a while, so I am here in part to represent the Nation."

"Ah, I see," she replied, though she hadn't known Flitwick had more ties then just blood to his goblin cousins. He was obviously a figure she should keep more of a watch on in future. She could have tried to have a conversation with either Lupin or Snape, but neither looked quite talkative today, having rather serious expressions on their faces.

They ate in silence for a time, and when Deliria finished with her dish, she turned back to Flitwick. "A few people aren't here," she noticed.

"We were told we were free to explore the island. While some of us preferred safety in numbers, others have sought to get to know the terrain better."

"Not a bad idea," she decided, standing up. "Try to survive." Her tone was friendly despite the grim way she had put her variation of good luck, and then she was out the door.

Despite being the host of a deadly tournament, the island itself was rather beautiful and lively. The décor of Buddhist statues and yin yang symbols made Deliria think Shang Tsung might not have been the first one to claim this island. Her other clue was the way the various observing monks seemed to be looking around in revery, and if Shang Tsung was in sight they gave the man a rather dark glare. The terrain was a mix of mountainous and bits of forest, and paved walkways. One spot she liked was a like a garden, with a good view of the palace in the distance, and a lovely set of waterfalls by a pavilion. A lake was there, and within the lake were two statues, one of a wingless dragon and the other of a four armed man with lit candles underneath him. She rather enjoyed the view, though it was partially ruined by the fight going on beneath her.

She could see Sonya, the blonde was down being pestered by that guy Kano. Technically, as a winner, she was supposed to be safe until the second round, but as Kano was not an official participant any longer. Her fellow man from Special Forces whose name Deliria didn't know off the top of her head was fighting with a man dressed in red and black, but with a strange green glow in place of where his eyes should be.

"Miss Blade will likely be an ally against Outworld," Dia informed her. "Might be best to keep her alive for now."

Deliria nodded to that and with a twist, she would join the fray.

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Scouting around to better understand what sort of terrain they might have to deal with had ended with them getting ambushed by Kano and some guy who floated around like a ghost. Jax had found himself pulled in by the strange power of the green eyed man, while Kano looked to be keeping Sonya's attention.

"Come on, Sonya, come show me how you really feel," the criminal taunted. His laser eye fired her way and she twisted around it fast. Where he'd even manage to get that technology from she still didn't know, but it made her regret taking just an eye out from their earlier encounters. She rushed in close and sent out a kick, but he side stepped it and with a smooth motion of his knife, his sliced into her calf. She grunted from the pain but bit back any further sound of pain as she limped back.

As it looked as though she was about to be put on the defensive, there was a soft pop. A white haired woman appeared, some long black outfit that covered most of her figure except her head and hands. She had a stick in her hand, and Sonya knew what that meant by now. The wand was pointed at Kano. "Avada Kedavra!" she shouted, and a green light burst out of the wand. The light disappeared into Kano's body and the man fell over. "Ah, so much cleaner. You alright?"

"Just a cut and some bruises," Sonya informed her. "You knock him out?"

"No, I killed him," the woman said carelessly. Sonya couldn't make herself care much for the fallen enemy as her attention went back to her partner.

A partner who had started to scream. "Jax!" Jax was being held in the air by an invisible force that, and she only knew what he was screaming about exactly as his limbs came flying off. Then his head was turned towards the ground and was smashed into the ground under it was paste on the stone walkway. Sonya's mouth hung in shock.

"Ermac wins. Fatality," came a voice, as Shang Tsung appeared before them.

Rage unimaginable overtook her, and she was about to knock someone's head off as she charged forward. "Imperio." A wave of calm delight overtook her, and she forgot what she was about to do. 'Stand still and be quiet,' a voice in her head told her, and she liked what it said and felt like she should obey it.

She could still perceive the world, but she didn't care what she was looking at so much, even as she saw what remained of her best friend. The old man looked disappointed that she had not continued in her quest to avenge her friend. "Keeping her out of trouble, Miss Lovedoll?" he asked.

"I like making friends, Mister Tsung," said the white haired woman, who sounded a lot like the voice in her head. "And I think Mister Kano had worn out his welcome."

"I suppose so," said Shang Tsung, giving a motion towards the green eyed man who had killed Jax. That man swiftly disappeared. "You might wish to keep an eye to your surroundings, Miss Lovedoll." In a flash of fire, she was alone with woman.

"Answer me honestly," commanded the woman to Sonya, who instantly felt the need to be very honest. "If dropped my control, would you hit me for stopping you from getting yourself killed?"

"I might," she answered, surprised that that was her honest answer. She liked the woman with that voice at this moment.

"Incarcerous," said the woman, and from her magic wand shot a length of rope that wrapped around her tight. "I'll give you a moment. I'm sorry you lost a friend." And like that, the feeling of calm shattered and her emotions and willpower came rushing back.

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Deliria waited while the woman got out her frustrations in her struggles. To her credit, she didn't cry so much as seem to want to kill something very, very badly, at least as far as Deliria could see. When she stopped struggling and just seemed to be quietly seething, staring at the bloody mess that had been her friend. The man had no chance against someone with that kind of wandless magic. Hell, if she got caught in that grip, she wasn't sure she'd be able to break it before she found herself ripped apart. That was some messed up power the green eyed guy had.

"You alright to be released?" she asked. "I'm sure you'll have a chance at revenge at the very least during the rest of the tournament." Deliria tried to sound sympathetic, but while she had an idea about how she felt when a friend was threatened, she could honestly not imagine what it would be like to lose one. Deliria didn't plan on ever finding out, either.

"I'm… fine," Blade growled out, obviously still frustrated, but Deliria accepted her to not be a threat anymore and was about to vanish the ropes when the sound of fire came towards her. She spun and apparated off to the other side of the walkway and looked towards where she had been. A man in red had appeared, with what seemed to be wrist mounted flame throwers.

"Sektor versus Deliria Lovedoll," said a voice, and she didn't even look at Shang Tsung, who seemed to just know what a fight was breaking out on his island that needed his attention. "FIGHT!"

"What fight?" she muttered, and was rather pissed to have been snuck up again. She liked to think she was careful, but these stealthy assholes were making her feel careless, especially when this one was clearly a muggle. She should not be taken by surprise by a bloody muggle! "Avada Kedavra!"

The man in red twirled to the side and and raised a different wrist, and to her surprise a rocket shot out of it in her direction. She cast a quiet bombarda at the small missile but the explosion was enough to knock her off her feet. The man had closed the distance rather fast for a human. He raised his flame thrower.

Her wand went in a slashing motion, which he swiftly dodged, almost like he was used to dodging spellfire, but she had nicked the flame thrower's hose connection to it's full source. "Incendio," she whispered, and a burse of fire hit the leaking fluid. In a matter of seconds, it went from a single flame to lighting the man on fire, and just as he began to scream, the fuel tank on his back exploded.

"Deliria Lovedoll wins," Shang Tsung said. "Fatality!" And then he happily sucked away the soul.

"Ally or enemy, doesn't matter if you get your damn meal, huh!?" Sonya yelled from her still helpless position.

"Oh, the Lin Kuei are not allies of mine," he told her, with an amused grin. "They are here to assassinate me." And with that the sorcerer flamed away again. Muggle assassins gunning for wizards, what was next? Cyborg ninjas?

"Hold still," Deliria said after standing up, a quick and simple healing spell closing the wound on Sonya's legs before she vanished the ropes.

Sonya stood up on her own. "This island just gets crazier," she muttered before she went back to staring at the body of Jax, still in a period of mourning.

Deliria waited for a few minutes, but it was hard to keep from getting bored as she waited. "It might be best if we take his remains if you'd like to bury him properly later," she said. "Some people around here seem to not mind eating human." Blade just gave her a solemn nod, and Deliria transfigured what was left of his body into a few rocks, levitating them over to her. "They should turn back within a week, and this tournament should be over by then.

The blonde just pocketed it and seemed despondent, until she decided to speak up after a minute of walking. "Deliria Lovedoll, huh?" she asked. "That's not a real name, right?"

"Sure it is," said Deliria, lying through her teeth. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, the Lovedoll part," said Sonya. "It sounds like a sex toy."

Deliria sputtered and blushed. "What!?"

The walk back came with some explanations, a touch of grumbling about muggles, and a regret about not knowing that when she made the name up when she was seven. Say what you will about Voldemort, but his anagram made name had never happened to sound like some muggle perversion, least as far as she knew. It was a little late to change it by now, she just hoped the Wizarding World continued to remain ignorant of this knowledge.

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Severus Snape and Filius Flitwick were set against each other in the Tournament. If she hadn't already viewed so many life or death fights before this, Deliria would have thought the duel between them was actually rather spectacular. Snape who was used to on the field dueling, and Flitwick, a master of formal dueling, they were both high on their field. But when both were holding back from anything that would kill their fellow Professor, Flitwick came away the winner. Deliria wondered what how that would have gone if neither had held back, but supposed she would never know.

Lupin had gotten in a fight with a fellow werewolf, and was able to stun him part way in. Deliria would rather he would kill, as she would have to worry about a werewolf running around on the island two days from the full moon, and there was still a lot of people left to get through. Last one of the Order of the Phoenix crowd to make it through was Rayne, who rather spectacularly eviscerated one of her half-brothers from the Cult of Kagan. She looked rather satisfied with herself for doing it, as deadly with her attached blades as that Baraka had been with the ones he had been born with.

Deliria rather wished she hadn't gotten through her own fight already, as she was starting to get bored as the rest of the round went by with only a couple more people of interest. With the last fight, Shang Tsung stood up again from his throne. "That concludes the first round. Tomorrow, the second round shall begin, and we shall start it at the pit. Anyone who is not at the Pit when the gong rings is considered disqualified."

 **NOTE:** The Dead List:

Emmaline Vance (Killed by Baraka)

Nightwolf (Killed by Jade)

Kano (Killed by Deliria)

Jax (Killed by Ermac)

Sektor (killed by Deliria)


	4. Chapter 4 - Distractions

**Chapter 4**

 **Distractions**

Deliria decided that the little threat that everyone who would need to arrive at the Pitt was worth investigating. Luckily, she had rather simple method of finding such information out, at least if any of his guards knew what exactly he had planned.

At the Palace, while everyone else was still eating in the hall, Deliria decided to slip off and find some lone guard. Unfortunately, every guard she found was always with at least one partner. "Easily solved," Dia informed her wisely. And she was of course quite right.

Finding two guards alone, all it took was a stupefy followed by an Imperio. She unmasked the Imperiused Guard, who turned out was some sort of demon relative of a Tarkatan by the looks of him, and looked him in the eye. The plan she found out was quite simple, really. The first two days, the guards had acted as helpful tour guides, but they would not be obliged to be so tomorrow, and would stay silent. At the same time, several of Shang Tsung's allies within the tournament would act as a distraction, starting fights blocking off others from exploring the island and stumbling upon the Pit themselves.

If all went right, when the gongs rang out over the island, the only people at the Pit would be Shang Tsung's people, who would all declare Goro the Champion by default and thus win the Tournament. But as Deliria tore the location of this new arena from the guard's mind, that plan was sure to fail, or at least fail in getting everyone.

Deliria quickly put the guards back as she found them and obliviated their memories of the encounter as she considered what she would do with this information. While she could simply inform everyone and foil the plan outright, there was good reason to consider not doing so. Deliria did not really need to succeed in winning the Tournament in order to succeed in her goals, but she did need to make sure certain key figures in this tournament died and gave her no more troubles in future. Shang Tsung, mainly, needed to be dead, and not given any chance to escape.

While Albus Dumbledore could win this tournament, she was sure, he would always be one to hesitate when he could kill. The man was angry at the savagery of this tournament, but she could not trust him to not be a merciful fool and offer the man a second chance. Dumbledore believed too greatly in second chances to not at least offer it, even if the hesitation would allow Shang Tsung a chance to escape. He also would still be unlikely to kill the sorcerer even if he wasn't quite so merciful. He would try to throw him into a prison or something, and Deliria preferred the guy to not have any future opportunities in life.

But the world would have better chances if she was not alone in trying to defend it, so she should certainly make sure a few people arrived in time for the second round of the tournament. The question was, who? Sonya was a first obvious choice, as the woman was not only a capable fighter, but she had a nice desire for vengeance that would give her a lack of mercy, and she never complained once about Deliria killing Kano.

Out of Dumbledore's group, Mad-Eye Moody was certainly of the right mindset, but his prosthetic leg and slowed movements compared to his war days would be a hindrance. The man could duel, sure, but so far as she had seen in these fights, their enemies were too good about dodging spells and getting in close. The man was built more for battles than these bloody sparing matches.

Rayne though had the right temperament for this. She was vicious and a killer, and she was a similar sort of fighter to their enemies. Definitely a good choice. She also supposed the Slayer would always be a good option. She might even learn the girl's name. So far, three others and herself, to a grand total of four warriors for Earth. Would that be enough? It depended on how many people Shang Tsung would devote to this distraction. It was possible that some would succeed in escaping the distractions and meet with them there, and it was best if Deliria didn't waste too much energy in trying to get a lot of people to come with her. She only had so much magic to spare on a day to day basis.

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There was a knock on Sonya's door in the morning. She cautiously opened it while one hand glowed pink, ready to blast whoever was there threw a wall if she had to. But then she discovered it was Deliria. "Hey Sonya," she greeted cheerfully. "I've found out the guards aren't going to tell us where the Pit actually is for round two, so I found out myself."

If Sonya were honest, the white haired woman freaked her out a touch. She killed easily, which was understandable in a situation like this, but did not seem to care much about it. She had successfully done some sort of mind control spell on Sonya, and while that had helped her stay alive at the time, it felt really creepy to remember the pleasant feeling of the loss of her free will.

And yet, she was the only person on the island Sonya had any level of friendship with. Strange times gave her some odd company, and she was willing to hear the woman out. "When do we leave?"

"The Round begins at Sunday again, but I thought it would be safer if I just made sure Shang Tsung didn't try anything else with you before the round. You trust me?"

Sonya did not really like the sound of that, and it showed on her face before the question came out of her lips. "What are you planning to do?"

"This," she told, and raised her wand. Sonya was too late to get out of the way as the spell hit her and she felt her body grow worm as her vision blurred and became strange. Everything felt weird, and her vision of Deliria became strange, as if the colors were becoming muted. The woman was also becoming taller, a lot taller.

Sonya squirmed, and found she couldn't feel her arms. "~What did you do to me!?~" she gasped.

"~Transfigured you into a snake,~" Deliria informed her, but the sound didn't hit her ears so much as reverberated over her body, and a strange sense of trust came over her at that voice. It didn't feel the same as that mind control curse, though, her mind was not clouded with positivity. "~Fret not, Sonya, I'll transfigure you right back when we get to the Pit. There's a few more snakes I have to collect. Now, coil around my arm, and no biting, please.~"

Yes, Deliria freaked Sonya out for good reason. When this is her only friend on this whole damn island, it really was a messed up time in her life.

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Kung Lao and Liu Kang were walking to the pit on their own as the time of the second round was coming upon them. While some of the other Kombatants had learned to rely on the guards for information, these two were an exception. They had been training for this tournament for what seemed like their whole lives, and part of that training had been a well researched map of the land they would be fighting on. These cousins knew their way.

They also knew that Shang Tsung was honorless scum, and were not surprised when a group of Tarkatans barred their path and flashed their blades out. The cousins merely gave each other a look and a nod before they began to fight their way through the gang. Nothing could stop them from achieving their destiny and honoring their shared ancestor, the first Kung Lao.

"Stop," came a thunderous voice, and the Tarkatans were electrocuted mid-fight. Lord Raiden was standing there, his usually calm face twisted in an expression of anger. "Continue on, Kung Lao, Liu Kang. Our allies will be informed of this treachery at once." With a crack of thunder, Raiden had vanished, the the cousins were off again, this time at a run.

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Raiden flashed in front of Albus Dumbledore, and the old professor turned towards him. "Is there news, Lord Raiden?"

"Shang Tsung is attempting to keep the competitors from reaching the Pit," he told them. "By the rules of the Tournament, I can only attack those not directly competing in the tournament, so I assume his allies among the competitors will be among those attempting to stop you."

"Damn," grumbled Alastor. "We don't even know where exactly this place is. If they mean to delay us, they might succeed with that alone."

"I can show you the way," promised Raiden. "But know that I can't defend you if a competitor of the Tournament stands in your way. I can however defend from the non-combatant distractions." The supposed thunder god's eyes flashed dangerously and Dumbledore nodded. "Make way for the Palace Gates, I will inform the other competitors that would defend our realm and meet you there." In a flash, he was gone again.

The group of Wizards began to move, but long before they reached the Palace Gates, they found a hallway crowded. Fenrir Greyback gave them a cruel smile, and he was flanked by his pack of werewolves, as well as a large group of vampires.

"Would you truly go so far to betray our world, Greyback?" shouted Remus.

"Making a better world for us wolves, pup," Greyback shouted back and raised a wand.

"We don't have time for this," said Alastor, who attempted to twist in place…. And didn't apparate. "Damn, the buildings warded now!"

Albus Dumbledore raised the Elder Wand in hishand, and determination came to his face. "Then we must fight."

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The wards raising up over the Palace were a surprise, but Deliria was able to escape the Palace quick enough on her own, and once she was out of there, she had been able to apparate straight to the Pit with nearly an hour to spare. "Wow, this is the Pit?" Below her was a valley covered in metal spikes that looked sharp and were likely there to skewer anyone who fell into it. High above this was a stone platform roughly the same size and two stone walkways that were no wider than a dueling ring.

This was a highly elaborate death trap for a dueling arena, and if she was right, there was space enough for three fights at once. It seemed Shang Tsung was eager to speed up and extend the number of deaths for anyone who actually got here. Shang Tsung was already there, standing in the middle of one of the two walkways.

"I see you've found your way here," said the sorcerer, as though he had expected it. She imagined he did have some contingencies for people actually being able to continue in the tournament.

"Oh good, we do get to have some more fun," said a cheerful voice, and Deliria's favorite among the enemy, Mileena in Pink, had popped in. "I was afraid Shang Tsung's boring plan would actually work." Her fellows in green and blue slinked in from the shadows quickly afterwards.

"Oh, no, boring would be no fun at all," Deliria agreed, before she started hissing at her collection of snakes. She really needed more snake friends, as tiny snakes were much less terrifying to interact with then Nyssa, and she really did like having snake minions. As the three serpents slithered off and looked ready to go back to their humanoid forms, Deliria hesitated. "~Would any of you like to be my pets after the tournament?~" she hissed.

"~NO!~" all three transfigured ladies informed her vehemently. Deliria pouted but relented, undoing her transfiguration.

The Slayer grabbed her by the collar of her robes the moment she was human again. "If you ever do that to me again, I will stake you through the stomach," she growled.

"Hey, I got you to the tournament, I fed you, talked to you, be grateful," Deliria defended.

"You fed us rats," said Sonya, looking rather queezy at the memory.

"You liked it at the time."

"Of course we liked it, we were snakes!" cried Rayne, looking ready to stab her.

"~Ah, a human speaker,~" said a voice. "~It's an honor to fight with you, speaker.~"

Deliria looked around at the voice, and found what looked to be a reptilian man in ninja-like garments of green coloration. She thought she knew most of the creatures of the world that could speak Parseltongue, but then the man could have been from another world, as the Tarkatans were. "~Always a pleasure to acquaint myself with those who speak our tongue,~" she told him. "~Forgive my ignorance, but I know not who nor what you are, Fellow Speaker.~"

"~To my allies I am called Reptile, but my true name is Syzoth, last Saurian of Zaterra,~" he said, with a rather respectful bow. "~I fight for Shao Kahn, the Emperor of Outworld, which makes us enemies. But the Speakers among humanity are as cousins to the Saurians of Zaterra, so know I hold you with respect.~"

"~A pity, Syzoth, as I prefer friends, but understand,~" she replied respectfully. She was intrigued by this claim of kinship, and would like to know more, so she might as well stay friendly. "~If we meet in combat, let us fight with honor, my worthy foe.~" The being called Reptile nodded before returning to silently waiting for the gong to ring.

"That sounds so much weirder when I'm not a snake," noted Sonya. Rayne was looking at Deliria significantly.

"We should obliviate her," Dia informed her wisely.

"Probably," Deliria agreed mentally. "But I'm sure Moody's already noticed the Locket around my neck with that eye of his, and has probably told Dumbledore about it already. While Alice Potter cannot be seen with it, Deliria Lovedoll can have an excuse for this power without revealing my true origins. The Locket does allow for that."

Dia considered this. "Perhaps, but I still think it's better that he doesn't know at all," she concluded. Whatever the case, Deliria wasn't going to attempt to obliviate her with all these witnesses and have people asking why. She just had to make sure the woman didn't get any alone time with the Order first. But if she did, it wouldn't be too harsh a setback for the future.

"Yes, Parseltongue is a touch weird, isn't it?" she said. "Lovely magical trinket I found on a different adventure has the power to give it to you. It's usually just hereditary, but I lucked out." Best lies were made of truth. She'd still attempt to obliviate the dhampir before she blabbed, but there was her insurance in case she failed. "Cool trick to have in combination with a serpent summoning spell, though."

Two Chinese men came out from the usual path to get here, one in a steel-rimmed circular hat and the other with a red headband, both glaring at Shang Tsung and began telling him off in Mandarin. Shang Tsung taunted them back in the same language. Well, it looked like Deliria wasn't the only one to make it, as four defenders of Earth became six.

As time went by, Deliria wondered if anyone else was going to make it in time. The green eyed man had glided in and settled himself with the forces of Outworld, as had the man with rune tattoos, and a few others Deliria had yet to pay special notice to. One person she recognized that she hadn't caught sight of before was a vampire she knew by the name of Kagan. Kagan was a rather infamous figure, an ally of Grindelwald in World War II, and similarly sided with Voldemort during his war, he was one of the greater vampire lords of the world, and considered the originator of his own species of Vampire. She wasn't entirely surprised to see him, as his Cult had already shown themselves here and there.

Rayne's focus had shifted from Deliria to glaring daggers at her vampiric father. "Ah, Rayne," he said. "My problem child."

"Your killer, 'Dad'," she shot back. "Been hunting you down through two different wars, but it seems you've stopped hiding behind your kids, at last." The vampire only smiled at her, and didn't make any more threads. It would have been a waste of breath to make promises she'd already known.

Three men were able to get there in time. She recognized the blue ninja that was an expert in wandless ice magic, and he was accompanied by a black man wearing yellow. They were followed by an apparently blind man with a Katana, who cursed Shang Tsung out in Japanese, and the sorcerer proved to be a master of languages by answering him back. Shang Tsung was a man of many talents, even if some of those talents were horrifying.

And then the gong rang.

"Damn!" she heard shouted from afar, and it seemed the Order of the Phoenix had been only a few seconds too late. That must be frustrating.

Shang Tsung was quick to make it official, even as he heard the angry crack of thunder. "Those who are here when the gong rang are now the only Kombatants left in Mortal Kombat. All others are disqualified. Let round two of the Tournament begin!"


	5. Chapter 5 - Round 2: The Pit

**Chapter 5**

 **Round 2: The Pit**

"That damn cheater," said Mister Dick Punch as they came over the ridge. Then his sunglasses covered eyes looked at the intended arena. "On second thought, maybe it is better I'm not fighting over that."

Dumbledore appeared before Rayne. "I am terribly sorry we didn't arrive in time. Shang Tsung's delay tactics were unfortunately effective."

"The vampires and werewolves of the Tournament decide they'd rather keep us busy then continue to participate in the tournament themselves," said Lupin.

"Not all the Vampires," Deliria informed them. "The infamous Kagan decided to come himself."

"I guess you got out here before the delays?" said Hellboy, noticing that Deliria did not look like she was very winded from avoiding distractions.

"Oh yeah, the thief is also a kidnapper and decided to get a few of us here by any means necessary," Rayne informed her colleagues.

"I didn't kidnap you," Deliria defended. "I merely acquired your company without your permission. Technically I had Sonya's permission."

"Technically you didn't," said Sonya dryly. "When I asked what you had planned, you turned me into a snake." Ah, damn, the conversation was veering that way already.

"She's a Parselmouth," Rayne blabbed. Deliria would have glared, but she had sadly expected this.

"Ah, a wondrous device, that Locket of yours," said Dumbledore. "Stole that too, did you?"

Deliria grinned. "Oh yes," she told him. "Though in my defense, he stole it first."

Dumbledore looked to want to hear that story, but Shang Tsung interrupted the flow of conversation. "Rayne versus Baraka on the Platform. Kagan versus the Slayer on the first walkway. Sonya versus Mileena on the second walkway." Deliria had expected three fights at once with this setup, and it seemed the remainder would be forced to watch from one side of the valley. She also didn't like that two of her favorites were about to kill each other. Sonya was turning into something of a friend, and Mileena seemed like so much fun. Sadly, she was an enemy, so Deliria would cheer on the friend she had already and lement not being able to keep the pink clad murderess as her own personal entertainment.

Deliria was beginning the think the mixture of awakening sexual preferences and overexposure to extreme violence was sending her personality into new depths of deplorability. She didn't mind so much, as she was already a murderer and mod boss with plans to be the Dark Lady of Britain, it wasn't like she had much further to fall into the Dark.

Shaking her mind out of self-reflection, she turned her attention to the fights that would soon begin. "Good luck, Sonya!"

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While there would be three simultaneous fights, Sonya would only be able to pay attention to the one that she was fighting. She did see that the red haired woman, Rayne, and that monster Baraka had been forced to jump to the Platform they were fighting on. That both had done so easily just meant that normal people should never have come to this place. While Sonya herself wasn't quite normal, she was probably the one person left close to having the sensibilities to someone mundane.

So when she put herself in a ready stance against a woman who was looking more like a stripper or someone from some guys harem fantasy, wielding says and spinning about like a ballerina while happily declaring 'Let us dance!', Sonya felt like her life had gotten insane. One more day on this island felt like it was going further and further into making her go insane.

"Fight!"

All thoughts of how absurd her situation was vanished when the sais in Mileena's hands glowed with a pink energy similar to her own magic and went shooting off in Sonya's direction. Sonya ducked beneath them, but then the pink glow lit up again around Mileena's body and she began to roll forward faster then Sonya could get out of the way, barreling into her and sending her upwards.

When Mileena stopped, she put her hands to the ground and sent her feet back up, catching Sonya in the gut. Sonya ground as she fell back and turned her fall into a roll, getting up as quickly as she could, but Mileena was already rushing her. The assassin's hands went back and the sais that had flown off came sailing back into her hands. As she grabbed them, the glow around the weapons seized as she leaped towards Sonya, sais raised up to stab into her.

Sonya grabbed her by the arms and kept the sais from digging into her chest, but Mileena's high heeled feet dug into her stomach. So THAT was why they wore heels. It hurt like a bitch and the wait caused Sonya to fall back, but she used that momentum and was able to fall back and pull her legs up before kicking the woman off.

Mileena landed on all fours with a slide before standing up, and Sonya had aleady kicked herself back up on her feet. "It's so much more fun when the prey knows how to play," mused the madwoman.

"Playtime's over!" Sonya fired off a ring of pink energy, but her eyes widened as Mileena seemed to disappear in a flash of pink herself. And then a kick hit her in the back of her skull. Sonya stumbled forward before spinning around to see Mileena throwing her blades again with that pink glow. Sonya allowed her power to glow over her own hands and swept the blades out of her way as she burst forward before send and elbow into Mileena's jaw.

That move seemed to take the pink-clad woman by surprise as she stumbled back, and Sonya sent a full punch into her gut while her guard was off, before launching a kick to her knee and finished with a spinning back kick to her chin. The result was that Mileena fell back to the ground. Sonya pressed her advantage and pounced down, pinned her down with her legs before pummeling into her face with both fists.

Mileena pushed up with her body and attempted to reverse the pin, while one hand pulled down her mask. The spin brought them both dangerously close to the edge of the walkway, but Sonya found herself struggling beneath her, seeing her full in the face for the first time. She wanted to scream, but found herself instead brought into stunned silence by the wide mouthful of fangs. The middle of her mouth had what seemed like human lips, but the rest of her mouth went out to where human cheeks should be. They looked sharp enough and strong enough to tear flesh from bone.

The human part of those lips quirked into a grin as those vicious golden eyes looked into her own terrified ones before that mouth opened wide and tried to bite down on her face. Sonya twisted her head away, but screamed when those jaws dug into her shoulder. A louder shriek began when a one of those sais had apparently been summoned back into Mileena's hand, and she stabbed down into her other shoulder.

Sonya had never felt anything like being stabbed to death while also being eaten alive, and she would have rather gone through life never knowing what that felt like. But now she knew, and it hurt like a bitch. Whether it was the pain or the blood loss, Sonya didn't know which sent her into the black first.

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"Finish her!" Shang Tsung declared.

Deliria's eyes flashed dangerously and she raised her wand, and a crack as loud as thunder appeared. "Call the fight, Tsung, before I eviscerate you." Shang Tsung turned, his expression at first in a sneer until he saw her eyes. Deliria realized he must have seen red eyes and quickly got control of herself as they faded back into black. "I'm not allowed to kill combatants while they are in a fight, Tsung, but you seem to forget that you aren't one. Killing you is legal here."

Deliria put on the most Tom Riddle-like dangerous smile she had, and as she had a bit of the man's soul in her, it was quite similar and held much of the menace. In truth, she might have trouble escaping the island with his forces surrounding her, but screw it, she was keeping her new friend alive. Deliria was possessive that way.

"Mileena wins," he said after a moment. "Mileena, it's over."

"Do I have to stop?" she whined over the unconscious woman. "She's tasty." Deliria wondered if she spent too much time with Hagrid or something, because she found those dangerous fangs and the blood dripping off them no less appealing. Weird.

"There's plenty to eat at the Palace, Princess." Oh, that was new information. Princess? And by his tone of respect, that meant while he was in charge of this operation, she was higher up the latter then he was in the organization as a whole. But she couldn't concentrate on that. As Mileena seemed to relent and get off, Dumbledore led the charge and applied healing charms as quickly as he could. "Spare her today if you desire, she'll die soon enough." Shang Tsung went off to watch the other fights and tried to look like he hadn't been intimidated into obedience.

Severus Snape unshrunk a trunk and took out a blood replenishing potion. The manhad apparently come prepared. "She need anything else," he asked.

"I don't believe so," said Dumbledore. "But best we let her come to on her own, I think." Deliria nodded and levitated Sonya off the platform.

"I like a catfight as much as the next guy, but when one girl starts screaming like that, it takes all the fun out of it," Johnny Cage noted.

"Agreed," said Deliria, though it only took the fun out of it when she felt like said screaming girl belonged to her. It was much like the troll with Hermione, once she had even a light claim, she didn't want death stealing from her. "I trust you all to look out for her when it's my turn to fight."

"Of course," promised Dumbledore easily. She could trust his word on a matter like this. Deliria's attention moved to the other two fights, but she had apparently missed that the Slayers fight had ended with her tossed down into the pit.

The girl was impaled back first by a large spike, and she knew at this very moment, a new Slayer had just been called. That was the way of them, and it had been a line that had supposedly gone on since before recorded history. "Damn," she muttered, as one of the ones she had felt had a good chance had died off while Kagan the vampire smirked at his daughter, the silent promise that she would be joining the Slayer in death soon enough.

Sonya was out, the Slayer was dead, and the last girl Deliria had brought with her was… Oh, Rayne was winning at least.

With his natural blades and her attached ones, Baraka and Rayne had similar strategies in a fight, but Rayne was faster. Much faster. Baraka had cuts and nicks across his body, while Rayne had ducked and weave and flipped all around him. When they crossed blade, she would quickly back off and duck around. Their fight being on the platform allowed her vampiric agility to quickly overwhelm his demonic fortitude.

"This ones for Emmaline," Deliria heard as Rayne broke his guard with her blades and sent a kick into his chest sent him over the edge with a growl that was suddenly silenced at the bottom.

"Nice!" yelled Moody. "We're still in this thing."

There was not much time to enjoy the one out of three victory, for what little enjoyment there was to be had there, as Shang Tsung called for the next match. "Scorpion versus Sub-Zero on the Platform. Liu Kang versus Kitana on the first walkway. Kung Lao versus Jade on the Second Walkway."

As Rayne cleared out and mentioned something about needing a drink, Deliria looked towards the three sets of warriors about to face off with each other. When "Fight!" was shouted, she had some trouble figuring out which of the three fights she wanted to watch.

At first, it was a struggle between watching Jade's fight, and Kitana's fight. For one, both fights involved a lot of skill and Martial Magic, which Deliria studied with fascination. Kung Lao used that hat of his as a weapon, and seemed quite capable at summoning it back, as well as combat apparition, and sometimes he seemed to project his magic into the air around him which acted as something between a shield and a banishing charm. Liu Kang was an elementalist, shooting fireballs, pulling flames over his fists for burning hits and sending himself shooting off with magically propelled kicks. Kung Lao seemed better at graceful technique and avoiding his opponent, while Liu Kang hit with unbelievable speed and ferocity.

Meanwhile Jade and Kitana still fought like graceful assassins, but these were not as easy opponents as they had in their first round fights. They had to spend more time ducking and weaving, and Kitana often seemed to fight away rather then get caught in the tempest of Liu Kang's fast flying fists. Kitana got in a nick on Liu Kang's fist with her fanblade, but he had not even winced as he continued. Both men looked determined to go all the way.

But quickly the third fight took her notice. While at the beginning all she noticed was the ninja in yellow shouting in Japanese, a flash of bright fire brought her attention back. Scorpion in Yellow looked to also be capable of flaming apparition. Sub-Zero had practically covered the platform in eyes, but it swiftly melted when he apparently tried to freeze Scorpion's head solid and break it. Instead, he had just broken the surface and now the yellow ninja's was a flaming skull.

"What is that?"

"A specter," said Raiden. "Scorpion was once a human, until Sub-Zero killed him. Scorpion accepted power from the Netherrealm in order to rise again and claim his revenge."

"So, he's a demon then," she murmured.

"No," Raiden denied. "While corrupted human souls can be shaped into demons, he is closer to a ghost empowered by a realm of hell. The difference is minor in terms of ability, but while a demon that was once human are utterly corrupted, a spectre runs on their vengeance, and will lose their power when their quest for revenge is complete."

"So, I only have to worry about fighting one of them if Sub-Zero survives."

"A practical conclusion," Raiden agreed.

She rather hoped Scorpion did win then, before she their fight was becoming a rather spectacular battle between fire and ice, and Deliria knew she did not have the stamina for defending from that much magic long term.

The end of that fight conclude with a two hit combo. First, a harpoon shot from Scorpion's arm and pulled Sub-Zero in, and then fire shot out from Scorpion's skull and consumed the blue ninja entirely. There was only ashes left of the man. Scorpion let out a terrible shout of victory as the platform erupted in fires from some hell or another, but he did not disappear.

"Um, he didn't vanish," she pointed out.

"Strange," said Raiden.

"Not really," said a deep voice, and she turned to find the pasty faced and rune covered man. "Scorpion seeks revenge against the whole of the Lin Kuei for the destruction of his clan. His revenge still had more souls to consume." The man smiled.

"More souls for you to steal, Quan Chi," said Raiden, narrowing those lightning emitting eyes while energy cracked over his body menacingly.

"Someone always claims the souls. My deal with Shang Tsung allows me to keep the kills of myself and my servant while we're attending."

The casual way he spoke of claiming souls like a business let Deliria know he was something else entirely from this war between Earth and Outworld. "Demons. So many demons," she muttered.

"Yes, Miss Lovedoll," said Quan Chi. "So many hells fighting over this one little world. It seems to sing to us, enchanting us in like a Siren." So, the demon was paying more attention to her then she was to him. That was troubling.

"Don't make any deals with him," Dia said wisely.

"Dia, that was the most obvious wisdom you've ever given me. Don't make deals with demons. What are you going to suggest next? Remember to open your eyes when you wake up?"

"Someone's feeling snippy today," Dia mused before shutting up. Having spiritual siblings in her head was tiring sometimes. She hoped all the Horcruxes didn't take that option when she picked them up. She was feeling crazy enough already with her own personality quirks and a total of one other voice in her head, she didn't need more.

Deliria hoped she wouldn't have to spend too much time in the demon's company. She didn't like it when soul stealing demon's seemed to have an interest in her, even if this was the first time that had happened to her. It had happened to Voldemort more than once, and the memory of that was creepy enough to want to avoid that kind of attention.

Kung Lao had ended his fight with a knockout punch, and she groaned at his show of mercy. She had hoped the merciful ones had been left out. Well, hopefully he was just being merciful because she was a girl. She could at least make use of that kind of weakness. Still, him not killing an already downed opponent was not nearly as bad as when Liu Kang actually saved his own opponent from falling into the Pit.

"I like pretty ladies too, I still would have let her drop," she mumbled, but it seemed the gesture was enough for Kitana to admit defeat.

Any frustration at her lack of fully pragmatic allies was washed away when she heard her name. "Deliria Lovedoll versus Quan Chi on the Platform," Shang Tsung began, and Deliria grimaced. Fighting demons she knew little about other then he talked like he was high up the latter of command was not something she wanted to do. But she supposed she had to fight someone. "Kenshi versus Ermac on the First Walkway. Reptile versus Cyrax on the Second Walkway."

Deliria looked to the platform and apparated with a pop to one side of it. She looked to Quan Chi and the demon that looked like a man smirked at her before a portal appeared beside him. She blinked as a similar portal appeared on the platform. It was avada kedavra green at the edges, and black at the center, and the demon walked through it. "Impressive display of magic," she complemented. While she had read about ritualized portals, his casual personal portals were utterly unknown to her.

"Thank you," Quan Chi replied, readying himself. Like most on the island, he had no focus, but she could tell he was closer to a traditional sorcerer like Shang Tsung then a Martial Magician. Deliria immediately wanted to end this fast. Demons tended to be stronger then humans by a wide margin, so even if he also preffered at a distance fighting, she wanted to make sure she never got in melee range.

"Fight!"

"Avada Kedavra!" Deliria preferred a simple opening. Sporting? No. Smart? Yes. Truly, Avada Kedavra was the best dueling spell available when killing was encouraged. No known spell that could block it.

Quan Chi summoned a demonic fiery bat which ran into the green bolt and exploded in a blazing death, and then he summoned a second one. Oh. Well, yes, summoning another creature to take the hit for him was a smart strategy. There went that idea. Most people didn't actually think of that, except Dumbledore, though he proferred transfiguring solid objects.

The bat came at her and screeched. "Imperio." The bat began to whirl around, but Quan Chi next conjured a wall of glowing green skulls that the bat exploded against easily. The wall stood, and the skulls then started to burst forward in a volley. With a twist she apparated out of the way to another corner of the platrform, and her first sight in this new location was a portal in front of her face. "Crap."

A white hand shot out of the portal and grabbed her, pulling her in and slamming her down on the ground. While those Martial Magic users seemed to be more endurable by their magic, Deliria was as weak as the average human when it came to physical blows. She saw a boot raised above her and rolled out of the way while slashing her wand at his leg.

The sectumsempra gave him a cut as he stamped his foot down, but green energy formed over the wound as though he were already healing himself as he pressed his palm forward. Another green skull shot out of it towards her and she had to jump out of the way. Green light coming her way made her instincts scream in terror.

She was at closer range now, with less chance of him able to quick summon a block and so pointed her wand. "Avada-" A portal appeared and his hand shot through it, grabbing her wand and ripping it from her grasp. Deliria's eyes widened in shock.

He brought it back and inspected it. "Ah, this isn't yours, is it?" he asked, apparently studying it. "It's loyalty is yours, but it did not call to you first."

"Observant," she said, backing away with her hands raised. She was not as helpless without a wand as most, but she did not like relying on wandless magic. It was more tiring then magic with a wand, and more raw and uncontrolled generally. She could summon a spark of lightning or attempt to grab him with her magic, but her best bet was his mind. But a demon's mind would be troubling to invade.

"I'm trying to find out as much as I can about you, Miss Riddle," he said. Deliria's eyes widened. "Worry not, only I and my Lord Shinnok know, though Raiden might. Gods and demons have ways of finding these things out.

"I had thought I kept my places warded against demons and their gazes," Deliria growled.

"Most of them, though you hadn't updated Voldemort's wards at his hideout in Knockturn Alley you've been using." Deliria admonished herself for that. "You seemed to have forgotten he had yet to know demon repelling wards when he built it."

"I'll fix that when I get back," she said.

"If you get back," Quan Chi corrected, and his hands glowed green and flared towards her. She felt a sudden push, and tried to push back with her magic. The problem was while she might have the memory of a powerful Dark Lord and the mind of a wondrous Dark Lady, on the inside, she still had the magic of an eleven nearly twelve year old girl. And he was a who knew how old demon sorcerer that knew what she was capable of. Deliria's magic broke first and she found herself pushed off the platform.

"Bloody hell," she grumbled in her mind. "I'm going to die."

"Apparate!" demanded Dia quickly, helping her mind focus on a corner of the platform, but as she did, a green skull smacked her in the head and knock off the transfigured diadem in the form a circlet, sending Dia flying off and Deliria's head spinning. Her body spin around, and she knew it was actually a rather long drop.

She knew she should be screaming, but strangely she felt calm in the air. It felt like she was flying. She liked flying. She wished she could just stop and hover for a while on a broom. She liked that. She closed her eyes, she didn't want to see her doom coming. She wanted to remember what it felt like to fly, to have complete control in the air.

And then the wind stopped sweeping around her body, and she never felt her body hit the mass of spikes. She wondered if she died so quickly that she hadn't felt a thing. That seemed likely. She supposed Quan Chi would take her soul off to hell now. Voldemort had heard tale from demons how their souls were twisted and into what they became, the seemingly endless torture and agony. When he was younger, Tom avoided death for the feeling of powerlessness it would come with, and Demons had just confirmed that in hell, he would always suffer under others.

Deliria wondered how long she would be left just feeling and thinking like this. Then she felt like opening her eyes, and could see the sea of spikes beneath her. Then she looked around. Yes, there they were, lots and lots of spikes. Why wasn't she in them?

Then she looked down at herself, and could see she was floating. She moved her hand in front of her face just to make sure time had not frozen itself to the moment before her death. "Am I… flying?" she whispered softly.

Voldemort had long theorized that flying without a medium was possible, despite European Wizarding texts claiming otherwise. There were some obscure myths and legends that said the contrary, and Tom Riddle never liked to believe anything was impossible for him. So he had worked on mastering the ability himself, but had yet to crack it when a certain prophecy reached his ears and his priorities shifted.

Deliria smiled to herself. "I did it first, Tom," she told him as she began to rise up. It was a bit harder to control then a broom at the moment, and she could feel the drain on her magic, but the point was that she was doing it. It was exhilarating. She let out a mad cackle as she rose above the platform and looked down at Quan Chi, her eyes glowing red, not that she noticed in her own delight. "Let's see if you can fly, little demon," she called, raising her hands.

Quan Chi frowned but seemed to nod to himself. "It's true, then," he mumbled. "I think I shall avoid that today. I declare you the victor." He tossed the wand in her direction and she snapped it up greedily, before he turned and walked through another portal.

Deliria landed on the platform before she allowed herself to blink. "So, I won," she whispered. "Barely." With a thought, Dia the Diadem was summoned back to her head. "That was too close." For the first time, Deliria realized she had bitten off more than she could chew with this tournament. The chances of her winning this was low, as was the chance of her surviving a full on fight with that man without a number of years passing by first. Quan Chi was as beyond her as a fully revived Voldemort would be.

She looked at the remaining battles on the nearby platforms, and could see that all that was left of the man named Cyrax was someone whose's face looked like it had been melted off with acid. Ermac, the green eyed man who had killed Jax and had impressive control with his own wandless magic had gotten an arm cut off by the blind swordman named Kenshi, who as she stared finished him off with a slashing off of his head which then fell below and impaled itself on a spike while the rest of his body seemed to spasm and float, a mass of green lights floating out of him and shifting into white lights as they flew away and slowly disappeared.

"Kenshi wins. Fatality." Shang Tsung did not seem quite so happy, and with a quick count, she noticed that this tournament was not going quite his way. Five warriors for the Realm of Earth, four for the realm of Outworld. Deliria smiled faintly at his displeasure, but she was too tired to gloat out loud. "You may return to the Palace, the next round shall take place in my throne room." He disappeared at that, and Deliria went back over to join the others with a twist of apparition.

"Hey guys," she said. "Sonya, you're up."

"Yeah, in time to see you almost die too," she said. "Seems all the other wizards here were rather shocked that you can fly."

"Oh, I just supposedly broke the laws of magic," she informed her with a grin. "We're only supposed to be able to fly with brooms."

"… The broom flying thing is real?"

"You really don't know a lot about your own world, huh?" Deliria and Sonya walked on, ignoring the gobsmacked expressions of the wizards around her.


	6. Chapter 6 - Problems

**Chapter 6**

 **Problems**

"What are you playing at, Quan Chi?" shouted the soul stealing sorcerer in anger. "You pointed her out to me, and allowed her to beat you."

Quan Chi did not look like he much cared about the accusation at the palace. "I did attempt to kill her," he informed.

"At first, but then you stopped once she began to fly. Why?"

"Because she shouldn't have been capable of it," Quan Chi said simply. "I wanted a look at her for myself, perhaps claim her soul for the Netherrealm, but destiny will not allow her death. She is a child of Prophecy, Shang Tsung, and if I had continued to fight her, there were only two outcomes that could have come to pass. She either would have found some way to escape me, or she would have found a way to kill me."

"Prophecy," Shang Tsung whispered. Prophecy explained both his interest and his actions. "You attempted to subvert the will of time itself by even attempting to fight her."

"Indeed," said Quan Chi. "And if you want to win this Tournament and not displease your Emperor, you best find a way to beat her without killing her. Neither you nor I have the hand that can kill her, and time will find a way for her to survive us."

Shang Tsung nodded and left him. He would have to think on what to do with this problem.

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"For the last time, no, I will not let you turn me into a snake again so you can cuddle me in your sleep."

Deliria pouted harder.

"No. Christ, Deliria, you are like a child. Are all witches like that?"

Deliria was a child. She wasn't going to admit that though. "Most witches and wizards would be considered eccentric by muggle standards, and you have sadly been raised in such muggle standards."

"It gets really tiring when you trash the world I live in and my colleagues all the time," Sonya admonished.

"Well, I'm sorry, but my own muggle relatives were rather horrible people. It colors my perception of them. I have muggle friends, mind you, but they are special enough to overlook the handicap."

Sonya rolled her eyes but dropped it. At least the girl (because thinking of her as a woman when she was so childish seemed weird) had lost the topic they had been discussing. "So, think they'll try another trick to lessen the competition tomorrow?"

"Probably," she admitted. "Tomorrow is the full moon, and there are still living werewolves in the Palace. They are probably going to use that against us somehow. Werewolves are aggressive to humans on instinct, so we'll be in more danger then our enemies, who seem mostly inhuman. Shang Tsung might technically be a human though, so he'll have to hide himself off from them too, so the throne room itself should be safe."

"I'll believe that when hell freezes over," Sonya replied coolly.

"Did you know there are frozen hells? There are actually a lot of hells, only a few of them are the fire and brimstone type."

"How do wizards know this?" Sonya asked, half disbelieving and half curious.

"Well, mostly, from questioning demons from such places. Though a few crazy sorcerers have, of course, decided to open up portals to such places and go exploring, usually never to return. You know, like Shang Tsung, who wants to do that and leave such a doorway open. But then, if muggles could do it, there'd be even more crazies trying crap like that all the time."

"Are there heavens too?"

"Supposedly, though there is less evidence of them. But then, if they really are paradise, well, even if you could go there while still alive, would you ever care to come back and tell everyone it was there? End result is, dying leaves you helpless to the whims of dozens or even hundreds of different possible afterlives, so probably better to just try to go immortal if you can help it. Even getting to an afterlife in the first place seems to be a chore lately, with a sorcerer like Shang Tsung eating souls. One very good reason to kill him. Hells might be horrible, but I prefer the chance to escape them over being imprisoned in that jackass."

They parted ways shortly after that, and Deliria went off to her own room. She had barely enough energy to renew the wards before she passed out and slept like the dead.

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"Lord Raiden, we have a problem," said Shang Tsung to the vigilant thunder god. As much as he wished to take advantage where he could, Shang Tsung would not be able to skirt the rules forever, and it was best to not tempt the Elder Gods to interfere directly when they were so close to victory. He had hoped to be closer to victory already, but things were not too dire yet.

He did however have a set of problems, one being Deliria Lovedoll's prophecy bound fate to not die here, and the other being the now odd number of remaining competitors. He did have an idea for dealing with both situations with one move, but it would require approval from the representative of Earthrealm.

"What is it, sorcerer?" Raiden asked scornfully. Within an official capacity of the Tournament, Shang Tsung and Raiden were both joint hosts as representatives of the opposing sides.

"We now have an odd number of competitors," Shang Tsung informed him in a calm manner. "Before the next round begins, we must decide. With nine competitors remaining, I would ask for your opinion as the Earthrealm representative as to what can be done about this."

"Ah, so are you finished with your attempts to trick my warriors out of the competition?" asked Raiden. His face twisted into a thoughtful expression for a few moments as he considered. "I see two methods available. We can either bring the Champion into the competition now."

"Unacceptable," Shang Tsung declared. Keeping Goro fresh for his fight after wearing down his competition was too good a strategy as a last resort. He still wanted there to be no Earthrealm competitors to get that far, but the right of the Champion to defend his title rather than go through the entire competition was a valuable advantage to keep.

"Or we could pick on competitor to skip the round, though that would merely be putting off the problem. But the rules of Mortal Kombat means we cannot disqualify any competitor that is prepared to fight and has gone through the tournament undefeated." That rule was to allow people to back out when they felt they could not compete, though Shang Tsung had long since disallowed any boat leaving the island he had claimed, and used the rule to get Earthrealm warriors disqualified for not showing up to arenas on time due to his distractions.

"There is one alternative that you might find acceptable. Allow one of the fights to have three Kombatants in it instead of two."

"That would leave one of my fighters against two of yours," Raiden said, not liking that.

"Only one will win a fight," Shang Tsung defended. "There will be no long term disadvantage to your side for losing one warrior, and in truth, I stand to come out better if I allow two of your warriors to lose instead." In truth, he did plan to put two Outworlders against one Earthrealmer, but it would be better to play it like Raiden had a chance at gaining an advantage. While it might cost him another warrior in the running, there was a problem that needed to be dealt with.

"Ah, a gamble on your part," Raiden said with understanding. "I will agree, but we must decide who is to be put into this fight now rather than allow you decide on your own."

"I agree to your terms," Shang Tsung said. "But I already know the Earthrealm warrior that I will not be swayed from. Deliria Lovedoll. You may debate that if you wish."

Raiden went quiet at that, and his face became troubled. Shang Tsung wondered if he was also aware of whatever prophecy Quan Chi had referred to. It was always unknown what beings the gods paid attention to, and while some Prophecies came from them, others came from other great forces. Some were even said to come from the force of Time itself.

"I agree," Raiden said at last. Whatever thoughts Raiden was having, he was not sharing them with Shang Tsung.

Shang Tsung would not complain the lack of debate, as deciding on the other two would be more of a battle it seemed. In the end, Shang Tsung needed that witch out of this tournament.

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"This will at least make for one less problem we'll have to worry about," Severus said as Remus drank the last dose of Wolfsbane Potion he would take. "As long as you don't forget yourself."

Remus valiantly ignored the assertion that he couldn't be trusted even with the potion, or rather, entirely shared the worries as he spoke. "I still think I would be far safer locked in that room, even with the potion."

"While I would recommend being safe rather than sorry, Remus, I am afraid you will not be the only werewolf on the island and I would prefer not to lock away the only one whose instincts won't be screaming at him to attack us," Albus Dumbledore told him. "I know you won't let us down, and we will need all that we can muster to keep the people safe. Sadly with Shang Tsung's trick working successfully against us, that is all we can hope to do for the remainder of this event."

"Least if any of us was going to stick to this thing 'til the end, it was Rayne," said Hellboy. "She's got the right skills and instincts for this sort of thing. I'm more of a point and shoot sort of guy, and I wouldn't have wanted to fight over that pit. And while you all are good duelists, this close range fighting isn't quite your thing either."

"Probably right there," said Alastor. "I might have a few tricks up my sleeve, but that Quan Chi alone showed he knew how to fight an above average witch on her level, and I don't think I'd have come out of that one flying. Sometimes even constant vigilance will falter before a simple combination of skill, power and luck."

That had still be a sight to behold that Albus would not soon forget, and part of him still wondered if there had been a trick to it. As he remembered it, he knew it couldn't have been. Miss Lovedoll had been too surprised herself at the feat. There were spells for short term hovering, and while brooms and carpets were the most common forms of flight, there were examples in at least Japanese wizarding history of clothes similar enchanted, though harder to control.

But for centuries, if not millennia, it had been believed that no human being, wizard or not, could completely fly with nothing but their own magical power. This supposed Law of Magical Theory had been broken, and Albus Dumbledore knew no one would believe it until they saw it for themselves.

"Miss Lovedoll is proving to be a valuable ally here," Albus admitted. "But her every show of power makes me fear the problem she will be when we return home. Her casual use of dark magic and advanced magical skill will make her a terrible enemy on her own, but add in her ability to grow as a criminal mastermind and her boldness. She at least displays some empathy, so she will never be the monster Voldemort was, but that doesn't mean she won't be dangerous."

"For the moment, all I can recommend is keeping watch to learn all we can while we can," Hellboy said. "Who knows, she might not even survive to be a problem. Yesterday was rather close."

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Deliria was well rested, well fed, and had already made sure she knew where the throne room was. Now her only concern was keeping her new friend close enough to avoid letting her become some werewolf's dinner. She was at least able to fully warn her about what werewolves were capable of before the full moon night was upon them. "So, they are incredibly resistant to magic, and utterly immune to direct attempts at transfiguration, otherwise I would just turn them all into nice obedient snakes for the night. They are also pretty fast. While I'm sure you'd make a lovely werewolf yourself, I'm sure you don't want to adjust your whole life around the affliction, so watch their fangs."

"Got it," Sonya said. "Any reason you don't seem to worried about them yourself?"

"Because my defense is the Killing Curse, and that works on them just fine. They might be fast on a forward change, but dodging will be hard on floors like these. I'm less worried about the obvious tricks then whatever he has planned that I can't simply guess. He's at a disadvantage in the tournament now, so he'll probably try something to offset that."

"I just don't understand this whole tournament thing," Sonya wondered. "Why bother with all this ceremony and rules if all he really wants to do is kill us all and summon an army to take over the world?"

"He believes the Gods themselves will stop him if he breaks the rules rather than bends them," Deliria said. "Personally thankful he believes such things, as otherwise the madman would have probably done this before either of us were even born, and we might have been born as slaves of some demonic empire or something."

"So, no such things as gods then?" Sonya asked. "That Raiden guy seems to think himself one."

"Most historical gods were witches and wizards like us," Deliria said. "The only miracle of Christ that is hard to conceive of even with magic is the true resurrection of the dead, and even that I could just interpret as an act of healing someone in a coma rather than actual resurrection. Raiden may not be human, but I've seen no reason to think him a god."

"That makes sense," Sonya murmured, as Deliria made bold claims that had her thinking about her world view.

"Hell, Shang Tsung is a five hundred year old sorcerer who eats the souls of his victims," said Deliria. "He's fairly close to the idea of an evil god of the underworld. If someone told me he was older and was the inspiration for Hades, I'd think that was possible."

The two walked along and entered the throne room, which was empty at the moment, despite it only being a half hour until the next round begun. Liu Kang and Kung Lao arrived next with wary gazes around them as though constantly expect another trick. Most everyone else arrived ten minutes before the gong would ring, and only a few people there were no longer combatants of the tournament, like Jade and Kitana who flanked the throne of Shang Tsung, who appeared in a burst of fire a minute before the gong would ring.

"Mister Tsung, I have a slight problem. Your palace wards would prevent me from using my full capabilities in a fight. Could you perhaps remove them?"

Shang Tsung frowned but relented, waving his hands as they became lit in a firey glow. "They are down now, Miss Lovedoll," he informed before sitting upon his throne. The gong wrung before he spoke. "All Kombatants remaining are present, let the third round of Mortal Kombat begin!" The doors slammed shut, locking out anyone else from the room. "We have an odd number of Kombatants now, so it has been decided between myself and Lord Raiden that there shall be a change to one of our fights, in order to even out the numbers for the next round."

Well, that would leave someone with a disadvantage if Shang decided to put two Outworlders against a lone Earth warrior. For some reason, just as she had that thought, Deliria had a sinking feeling like she had just predicted her own doom.

"So we shall start with that," Shang Tsung proclaimed. "Deliria Lovedoll versus Mileena versus Reptile."

"Oh. Well, that sucks for me," the room heard her say. This was going to be a problem.


	7. Chapter 7 - Round 3: Three's a Crowd

**Chapter 7**

 **Round 3: Three's a Crowd**

Deliria stepped forward, taking note of her surroundings as her heart began to thump faster and faster in her chest. She had yet to pay proper attention to the Saurian's fighting style, but she knew what Mileena was capable of, and that would be challenging enough all on its own. And she would be fighting the both of them. She sent a glare at Raiden for agreeing to this, but his own stare back was impassive. That he wasn't grinding his teeth or making a show out of disliking Shang Tsung's tactics told her that he might truly agree with sending her as the sacrificial lamb.

The throne room was rather ornate and pretty, but it was very different from the previous stages. For one, there was no elevated position to fight in. They would fight in the open floor on the same level as everyone else was standing, and even Shang Tsung would find himself in the crossfire. It would be a good opportunity to just assassinate him now if she didn't have to put her full confrontation on surviving a battle on two fronts.

"Sonya, when spellfire starts flying, be careful to avoid anything. Especially anything green."

Sonya looked more worried about Deliria when she nodded. "Got it," she confirmed. "Good luck."

"Going to need that," Deliria whispered to herself as she put herself in a dueling stance and had to glance between two different masked opponents.

"~Apologies for what must be done, speaker,~" Reptile offered.

"~I understand completely, Syzoth,~" Deliria said respectfully. "~But do not expect easy prey.~" Reptile gave her a respectful bow before he took his stance for combat. Deliria reciprocated the honor with a duelist's bow in return. It cost her nothing to be seen as a respectful foe to an enemy with some reason to perhaps hesitate even slightly before a battle. Every little advantage was important, especially when she was outnumbered.

Mileena seemed to chuckle. "I wonder if you'll taste as good as your friend," she mused, taking her own stance with her sais out.

"Who knows, pretty princess," she shot back. Now that was pure Potter courage in the face of death. She blamed her birth father for that kind of taunt coming to mind.

Luckily, Mileena took it as a compliment and seemed to glow. "You think I'm pretty?"

Deliria almost laughed. That reaction was honestly cute enough to distract her from how bad this situation was for her. "With or without the mask, beautiful," she said with a grin and a wink.

"Be serious," Dia told her with her usual air of wisdom despite the obvious advice.

"I am, but if I die today, might as well go out leaving an impression."

"FIGHT!"

Reptile, she found out quickly, was a quick guy, who was able to slip in uncomfortably close before she could even blink, while from her other side, Mileena again started with the pink glow knives rushing towards her. As Reptile clawed fingers descended upon her, Deliria twisted away and apparated behind Mileena at some distance.

Her usual strategy of Killing Curse until dead would not work if both her enemies could dodge and weave through her spells better then Deliria could avoid their own attacks, so she needed to get more creative then she had been in her previous two fights. Luckily, this room allowed for more interesting ideas to form before the fight began then the Pit had offered, and her wand moved in Shang Tsung's direction. She was pleased to see him flinch before the dragon statues at either side of his throne spring to life.

The wingless dragons rushed towards her enemies with growling roars. Reptile quickly lowered his mouth guard of a mask and spat out a wad of green saliva that began to melt at the statue. His own venom appeared to be highly acidic and Deliria did not want to be anywhere near that. Mileena had her sais summoned back and broke the stone dragon's head with a stab, before she sent another back towards Deliria with its pink glow.

Deliria tried to transfigure the knife flying towards her, but the pink glow appeared to protect it from her magic. With that failure, she swiftly shifted tactics and raised a shield charm just barely in time for the knife to deflect away with a white burst. The sai appeared back in Mileena's hand shortly afterwards, but Deliria sent off a bombarda and the statue she had busted the head of exploded and sent her flying off.

Reptile began to gather his hands, and a green liquid globe formed in his hands before being sent off in her direction. She decided it would be best if she didn't let her touch her, and sent a blasting her at it. As it exploded in a mess of fire and green liquid, she apparated across the room to avoid any of it touching her.

When she looked around, however, she discovered that Reptile had disappeared. She looked around and wondered if he had somehow slipped behind her, just in time to see a heel coming for her. Mileena had used her own form of apparition to appear above and behind her and the kick was too close to avoid as she found her thoughts jumbled by the blow as she fell back.

She prevented herself from falling, but as Mileena landed, she raised her wand hand towards her, only to feel something invisible grab her and yank it back. She gasped in surprise. "Disillusioned, there's a visual blur when he moves!" Dia told her frantically, not that it did Deliria much good when he had grabbed her wand arm, nor when he sent a sharp knee into her gut.

The air knocked up out of her, but her instinct went wild, as he free had pushed towards the invisible Saurian and pushed at him with her magic. However, his grip on her was firm, and as he was blasted back he held on, and she felt the horrible pop of her arm dislocating from her shoulder. She let out a sharp yelp of pain as momentum pulled her with him and down to the ground on top of him.

Reptile snakes around her arm with his body and pulled, and the pain sent a shock through her system that felt unbearable. Mileena was jumping in to pounce upon the rest of her. In desperation, she thrust her left hand at her and burst of magic sent her into the ceiling. She put her hand on Reptile and sent of spark of energy into him, but while he grunted from the shock, he didn't let go.

"Summon your wand to your other hand!" Dia shouted in her mind, and once she suggested it, Deliria did. She wasn't as good with her left hand at doing just about anything, but she was able to shout out a stunning spell and Reptile went limp.

Thank Morgana he wasn't resistant to minor spells or she would have been screwed. Unfortunately, Mileena had not smacked into the ceiling like she wanted, and had instead hit it with her feet and kicked off back towards her, landing on top of her and pinning her hand. The inhuman woman was strong, grabbing her still fully functional hand by the wrist and pinning her down. She tried to move, to resist, but she couldn't do it. She tried to move her other arm, but the attempt made her groan in pain.

"And here I was worried you weren't going to be any fun," Mileena told her with mirth in those murderous golden eyes. The next thing Deliria knew, Mileena's skull was ramming into her own and her head went very, very fuzzy before her vision faded to black.

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"Mileena wins!" Shang Tsung declared, feeling he had made the correct move. He had already informed Reptile and Mileena to not aim for the kill, though he had worried Mileena might forget that. His creation didn't like to listen, as her position had gotten to her head and her nature had made her rather willful. But she had stopped herself at knocking the woman out.

Sonya blade let out a breath of relief that the fight had been called before Mileena could reveal those terrifying jaws of hers. She wished some of the other wizards were around since they seemed handy for healing wounds and fixing people up fast, but at least Deliria would have a chance to see them after this. Or so Sonya thought before Deliria and Mileena disappeared in a flash of pink.

"Where the hell did you send her, you bastard!?" Sonya demanded immediately.

"I believe you have already been told that survivors were free game on this island," he stated. "Mileena's fight is over. She is free to go until the next round and do as she wishes with her time. Now then…" With a wave of his hands, he began to repair his throne room. "Kenshi versus Kung Lao!"

Sonya did not wait to see it, as she instead looked at the closed doors and her fist began to glow with her own power. "She'll be in the dungeon," Raiden informed her, as his eyes flashed. "It is at the bottom of the Palace. As they have taken her, they will not kill her. But she should not remain within their hands. You may need help in this quest."

"I'll tell the wizards," Sonya told him, and with a flash of light, the door had opened to Raiden's power, who stared at Shang Tsung as if daring him to challenge this act. Sonya gave him a nod of thanks and went off, missing the thoughtful look on Raiden's face as she passed.

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Deliria felt the urge to groan the moment she woke up. Her body did not quite ache like she expected it to, and her arm didn't fill her with unimaginable pain from her shoulder anymore, but considered the last thing she could remember was that pain mingled with a fear of imminent death and a fuzzy feeling of a headbutt buzzing over her, she could be forgiven for her brain not catching on that she was alright immediately.

Deliria opened her eyes and stared around blearily about the room, tasting something strange on her tongue. "Dia," she asked in her mind. "How bad off am I?"

"I think you've been force fed some sort of healing draught," she told her first. "So physically, better. Magically near exhaustion again. Lots of bursts of wandless magic is rather draining to your young body. Our wand is gone, and if I am not mistaken, your limbs have been shackled."

Deliria tested this theory by trying to move, and heard the jingle of chains and the touch of metal at her wrists. "But we're alive," she stated, rather happily out loud.

"Yes," Dia replied. "And imprisoned. Either Shang Tsung suddenly wants us alive for some reason, or you deciding to flirt with Mileena actually saved our lives and souls, for the moment."

"Oh, you're awake," came Mileena's voice filled with delight. "Such a soft thing, I thought you might sleep a little longer."

"… I honestly can't believe you flirting may have saved our lives," Dia murmured in her head.

"I am never doubting stories about James Potter's charms again," Deliria replied, with some amusement. Alice Riddle usually more appreciated her mother over her father, but today, acting more like him had worked. If it was still today, she had no idea how long she had been out for. "How long did I sleep, Princess?"

"Couple hours," she supplied. "Round three ended. So did round four, actually. Last trick Shang Tsung came up with, the Tournament will be ending today, even if the Challenger has to fight the Champion while exhausted."

Deliria's face fell. That was a rather good plan, and even if an Earth warrior won the chance to challenge the Champion, they would be spent from too many fights beforehand. "How'd it shape up?"

Mileena began to raise her fingers with each point. "The red head killed her dad, the hat one beat the blind one, and Kitana's crush beat Scorpion, then red head beat the hat one, and Kitana's crush beat me. He's a softy though, so he didn't finish me. Hurt though." Mileena seemed to pout behind her mask. "Your tasty friend has gone off to try to rescue you, I hear, joined the rest of the survivors in fighting through the castle looking for you, but the Palace is rather large, and we have a lot of forces to distract them with."

"So, still plenty of alone time for us, I take it," Deliria said, and despite her attempt to keep calm, she couldn't quite hide a building worry. "Grateful though I am for the priveledge, I feel like I should ask why I'm alive. I'd like to think I inherited my father's charm, but I won't get my hopes up."

Mileena giggled merrily. "Well, at first, father's pet sorcerer ordered us to beat you without killing you. Otherwise, Reptile would have melted you the moment he had you on the ground." Deliria did not like the thought that she had been that close to death. "But as for me, I try not to listen to Shang like her matters. But… I just like being told I'm the pretty one for once. Everyone always says my sister's the pretty one." Deliria had a feeling she was smiling there.

"… You really honestly saved us with Potter charm," said Dia, in utter disbelief. "My wisdom told me that was stupid. I think your luck is greater than the wisdom of the Diadem of Ravenclaw."

"Hurray for small victories," Deliria replied mentally. "I'm surprised. I mean, by human standards, I suppose you can scare people off a bit, but I figured by demon standards…"

"Tarkatans find me too Edenian most of the time," Mileena replied. "A pretty face but a deformed, soft body." She rolled her eyes.

"Picky," Deliria said with a nod, as though she agreed. "I however find your most attractive feature to be your personality. I like playfully vicious. If Kitana's your sister, I find her too…"

"Humorless? Serious? Boring?"

Deliria nodded absently. "That sounds about right." Mileena smiled behind her mask.

"I don't care what Shang wants, I'm keeping you," Mileena confirmed to herself. "Father always flaunts around his little slaves, it's high time I got my own."

Deliria could have played along for a better chance later, but she quickly snapped and her eyes glowed red. "I am no one's slave."

Mileena did not seem intimidated, and in fact looked intrigued. "Spirited, and I like your eyes better that way," she said. "But before you fight too much, you should know that I broke your little stick. Your magic isn't very strong without it, right?" Deliria frowned. "The chains resist magic anyways, and father's invasion will begin tonight. Giving into me will be better than any other fate that could befall you once your world is claimed. As much fun as it would be to break you, I wouldn't mind trying something else if you just give in now. Something you'll find nicer."

Mileena's hands ran down her loosely dressed form, and Deliria wished she could say she didn't blush. But before the attempt at seduction could continue, there was the sound of something falling. Mileena stopped her lewd display and looked out the cell door, as a gong rang. "Red Head won. It's the final round."

"Final Round!" confirmed the voice of Shang Tsung, whose voice seemed to ring around the whole Palace. "Rayne versus Goro. FIGHT!"

"I have a bet for you, Mileena," said Deliria.

"That is not a wise idea," said Dia quickly.

"I am as helpless as she believes me to be," Deliria snarled mentally. "If I do not get out of here and that dhampir loses, I am screwed anyways." She said more softly out loud. "If Rayne loses, I'll give in. Even sign a binding magical contract to ensure my loyalty. If she wins, you let me out of these chains and don't get in my way."

Mileena only thought about it for a moment. "Deal. Never even thought about that," she mused. "You'll be more useful if I don't even have to keep you chained up all the time." Deliria did not like that she was that close to being left in perpetual helplessness like that, but then she didn't like a lot of things that were happening right now.


	8. Chapter 8 - Final Round

**Chapter 8**

 **Final Round**

As Rayne slide down the trap door and landed in the dingy dungeon, she could not help but feel she was riding a high. She had spent decades hunting down the vampire that had murdered her mother and made her into the woman she was today, and killing Kagan at last had let a great weight leave her shoulders. Tasting his blood was unbelievably satisfying, and while Albus may never understand it himself, for her, revenge tasted ever so sweet.

Unfortunately, it was a revenge found in the middle of another save the world adventure, and it was starting to turn out that she was becoming the last hope of Earth to come out of this whole thing on top. If Kung Lao or Liu Kang had overcome her, she would have bowed out gracefully, but while both had their own surprises, neither was as fast or deadly as her, and both saw that in their own fights with her. She had the best chance to become the champion of Mortal Kombat.

But as she landed, she looked up at the glowing red eyes of a rather large man with four arms and loaded with muscles. It said something about her lifestyle that this was not the stranger creature she had ever encountered, nor the most intimidating. She raised her blades as her thoughts took her back to World War II. Yeah, that was still the craziest period of time she could remember having and despite all of this, that had yet to be topped.

"At last," said Goro, stepping from his throne. "I hope you will be a worthy challenge, Warrior of Earthrealm."

Rayne raised up her blades and licked her lips. "Probably more than you can handle," she challenged.

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Sonya was having a hell of a time trying to fight her way through the Palace. It sounded like a simple idea to start with, but it turned out fighting dozens of vampires, werewolves and demonic creatures took up a lot of time. Even with her magical allies firing volleys of spells into the horde, they were not moving fast enough for her liking. And the slow pace was also making a large dent in their collective stamina.

Sonya might be the type of girl that could keep going for a while, but even she couldn't run on fumes forever, and she wasn't the only one. The wizards weren't going to be able to keep going like this either. Shortly after every gong, they were soon backed up by reinforcements, but only one or two guys coming to help and already suffering from wearing themselves out with their initial fighting in the Tournament meant they weren't the help they really needed.

But at the final gong, Raiden came in like the crack of thunder and began to help in earnest, and he had full energy. Deliria might be right in thinking the guy wasn't quite a real god, but he was certainly a man of miracles at the moment as he began killing demons and vampires as fast as he could manage. As one head exploding before the body turned to dust, Raiden shouted. "The final round has begun, Rayne is facing Goro in the dungeons as well."

Liu Kang ran in quickly after him, the man looked winded but determined. "We must move faster, yes?" he said accented English, before his body began to shift. The wizards in the hall gasped at the wingless dragon animagus as he began to unleash a great storm of fire and fangs.

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Rayne was beginning to think it Liu Kang might have been a better pick for the final fight, because both he and Goro shared a lot of similarities. Both seemed to favor fire, which Rayne very much did not. It would have negated a certain advantage Goro had over her in that he was able to burn her with that spinning fist move he seemed to favor. The guy also hit like a truck when he was able to get close enough.

Rayne's fighting style at the moment centered on avoiding him and getting in a nick here and there. His muscles didn't just look thick, his body was rather hard to cut through. He wasn't quick on his feet compared to her, but he could jump faster than he could walk, and he had almost crushed her with his great leaps. On occasion, he even breathed fire at her like he was a dragon. Those great streams of flames could have roasted her alive if she hadn't had her speed advantage.

His having four arms to hit her with only helped him when he got in close, but when he did, he would get in a flurry of punches. His strength was truly immense, and she had a feeling he'd have no problem pulling her head off if he could just keep her still long enough to grab her head. The problem with this fight could really be understood that in order for her to win, she'd have to hit somewhere more vulnerable, but to do that she would have to risk being in his range and getting pulled apart by hand.

'What's life without a little risk?' she thought before she jumped back as he attempted to leap onto her again. She readied herself before pouncing upon him. She pulled hand arm back while he grabbed her other with his upper hand and her legs with his lower arms. She felt him start to pull, and as his hand moved to block her, she knew this was the moment where she either killed him, or died herself.

She stabbed forward quickly and her blade found his throat. There was a moment of surprise in those eyes as he kept pulling. There was a cracking sound in her shoulder before his strength seemed to slip away and he fell back. Just because he seemed to be bleeding to death, Rayne did not need to get careless with finishing off her enemies. She proceeded to slowly saw through the rest of his thick neck until the body was beheaded.

She looked around for a moment, having expected Shang Tsung to proclaim it every time. "No?" she asked the silent room. "Fine. Rayne wins. Fatality." She let out a soft chuckle as the doors burst open.

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"Mileena, you're quiet," Deliria said. "She won, didn't she?"

Mileena was staring out the cell in shock. Deliria knew she must be surprised, from what little she could see of the fight from the wall, there had been a lot of fire and roaring cries, and blurs going by fighting each other. "We had a deal, Mileena. You're supposed to let me out."

"Father won't be pleased," the Outworld Princess whispered, with more than a touch of fear in her tone.

"Too bad for him, Mileena, now please, I don't like the chains."

"Mileena!" called a voice from apparently nowhere. Deliria recognized ShangTsung, and imagined he was projecting his voice with magic. He really was full of handy spells and she wished she could pick his brain with a few of them. "We're evacuating the island! Come!"

There was a sound of the doors bursting open, and Delira heard shouting, and recognized Sonya's voice calling for her. She smiled slightly. "Mileena, if you let me go, I'll relieve your worries and make everything better," she promised.

"Magic isn't that powerful," Mileena said.

"Magic is Might," Deliria replied. "Come on, Mileena, you promised."

Mileena pulled out a key, and came up to Deliria, looking her in the eye. "I always wanted a loving pet," she said sadly as she began to unlock them. "I always wanted someone to think I'm better then Kitana."

Deliria felt sweet relief when she was free. "I'm sorry, I'm not pet material," she told Mileena in a whisper as the wizards found them and opened the door. She pulled her hand up and eyed Severus Snape, pulling his wand towards her with her magic. "But maybe your problem is you should be the pet instead."

The wand flew into her hand as Severus let out a gasp of surprise. "Imperio." Mileena's eyes went soft and her body language slipped into calm submission to her whims. "You are a pretty princess, Mileena, but trying to enslave me?" Deliria's face lit up in glee. She did not like the helplessness and playing Damsel in Distress, and she desperately grasped onto the sense of control. "I think I need to punish you for that." The connection established, she tossed the wand back. The spell was now set tying her will over Mileena until Deliria dropped it or her will or magic failed to hold Mileena's mind. But Mileena was not overly strong willed, especially in her moment of despair.

"Mileena, I have a mission for you."

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Shang Tsung was beyond irritated. He was livid. Everything had fallen apart, and he was sure to be punished for this failure. Not only would Shao Kahn possibly kill him for the failure, losing the Shokan Prince would also have consequences even if Shang Tsung could talk his way out of death from the Outworld Emperor. Shang Tsung could have no more screw ups in this evacuation. This was why he was annoyed at how long Mileena was taking.

He could not expect to survive losing one of the Princesses of Outworld on top of this disaster. His hands were lined in flame and he was opening a portal to Outworld. Now that he had lost his champion, he could no longer hold onto the island that had become his home. Raiden would surely kill him if he remained, as well as any remaining Outworld presence. Earth now had the champion, and with it, the Island was theirs again.

In a flash of pink, Mileena appeared. "Finally!" he said. "Into the Portal, everyone!" Kitana, Jade and Reptile were quick to go in, as were a few of his guards. Their previous allies were all on their own in attempting to survive this. Oddly, Mileena was hanging back. "Mileena, move!" He turned towards her, and realized two details.

She was very close with her sais out, and her eyes were slightly glazed over as if she had been bewitched. This realization came too late as he felt a pain come into the back of his neck followed by a second in his back. He stared down at the blades poking straight through his body. The flames around him began to fade, and the last thing felt were the souls within his body begin to flood out of him.

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Mileena reappeared in the dungeon, covered in the blood of the man that created her. The portal to Outworld had closed, and she wasn't going home, but despite this, a contented smile was on her face. Deliria patted her on the head. "Good girl, Mileena," she told her. "Now let's get you chained up before I drop my curse, hmm?"

Deliria delighted in exchanging places completely with the inhuman woman, chaining her up and pocketing the key in her robes. "That should be that. No more threats from Shang Tsung happening again. If this Emperor of Outworld wants to come back again for another fight, he'll have to come himself or find a newer, less experienced pawn."

"Normally, I would allow a retreating enemy to leave," Dumbledore said. "But considering the souls he would have taken with him, I think it might be best that his threat was ended now rather than be given a second chance."

"Third chance," Liu Kang said. "My ancestor allowed him a second chance and paid for it with his life. It is better this way."

Deliria liked the pragmatic stance the so-called good guys were finally sharing with her. It seemed that Shang Tsung had shown himself to be enough of a monster that even Albus Dumbledore was alright with his merciless execution. "Now, you'll forgive me if I feel like taking a rest after all this," Deliria announced. "Leave Mileena for now, I'll deal with her later."

"As you wish," Raiden said. "The ship shall now be ours to command, and we will be able to take the survivors home. After rest and preparation for departure, we shall be off."

"What happens to the island?" Deliria asked.

"As Champion of Mortal Kombat, Rayne will be able to claim who can come and go to the island until the tournament. Rayne, you should know a few things about what this title grants to you, and I have a few requests to make in regards to the caretaking of the island."

Deliria decided to leave these details to them. Deliria wished even more that she had won this thing now that she knew she would have gotten an island and a Palace out of the deal, but oh well. Can't win them all, and she had gotten a few consolation prizes. She heard Mileena thrash and cry out once the Imperius curse broke, and smiled.

"I need to find the rest of my team," Sonya said beside her. "Shang Tsung had them prisoner, somewhere."

"Well, if you need to interrogate Mileena or anything, don't kill her," Deliria warned. "She's my prisoner now, and I plan to make the most of her."

"I don't think I want to know what you plan to do with her," Sonya said with a grimace. "See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight," Deliria replied and slunk off to bed. A friend and a prisoner was prize enough, even if she was going to miss this nice bed. Maybe she needed to consider getting herself a Palace.


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Deliria was well rested when she rose up the next day, and though she still felt a bit drained of magic, she knew she would have a few more days to relax once she was back home in England. Deliria's first act was to go back down to the dungeons and have a chat with her lovely prisoner who looked so much better in chains then Deliria thought she must have.

"Morning, Pretty Princess," she sang sweetly. Mileena only growled in reply. "Don't like the role reversal? Well too bad, Mileena. For trying to enslave me, I think its only fair that I do the same."

"I will not break," said Mileena.

"I don't mean to break you, Mileena, I mean to tame you," she replied. "Your sweet playful viciousness will be all mine." Deliria grinned. "Everything you are today, I shall take that and make it greater, and when that happens, not only will you accept it, you will love it. I promise." Deliria grinned at the idea of having her own pet assassin to sick on people, and flushed at other ideas her devious mind created. "But first, I need to transport you home, and that won't be easy as you are now. Wandless magic is harder to control, but I do know a thing or two about it. Since you broke my wand, we'll have to do this slowly and painfully."

Mileena screamed as her body began to be forcefully shifted.

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Her many fanged pink and black python Mileena was coiled around her. The transfiguration wasn't quite able to get rid of those fangs, and Deliria wasn't sure if that was because of Mileena's demonic qualities or because Deliria and Tom Riddle had rarely practiced wandless transfiguration and had a few kinks to work out. Oh well, it was her own fault for breaking her wand.

"~This is humiliating,~" Mileena complained as Sonya found more humor in her enemy having this predicament then herself.

"~So was the thought of being chained up to your bed, so hush, Princess, and be a good girl.~" Parseltongue couldn't completely control an intelligent snake, but it did influence them highly, and Mileena would struggle to overcome that natural dominance a Parselmouth exuded when they spoke. It was safe enough for the journey. She was also glad something could make Sonya laugh at the moment, because her search had not gone well.

Apparently, Shang Tsung had actually killed her team almost as soon as he had them. Being the last survivor of the team had shaken her somewhat, though her reaction was softer then seeing Jax die in front of her. She had no idea how she was going to explain it, though Hellboy had told her that his word would help get her through some of it.

"So, most of the opposition was killed, right?" Deliria tried to confirm.

"All the werewolves were taken down in the initial fighting," Sonya confirmed. "The vampires started to scatter, but if any escaped the island, they are doing it now with us and are hiding out. Or they got out with that Quan Chi and Scorpion, who I get the feeling won't give such rides for free."

Deliria nodded. It was a shame that Greyback had died, he had been a decent leader among werewolves and would have made trying to conver them to her side easier, but now the packs would spliter and scatter without him. It would take more work to get werewolves on her side in future, but sometimes these things were beyond her control. Similarly, if any of Kagan's brood escaped, they would be without leadership and probably succumb to infighting themselves. Something to keep in mind for later.

She would have liked to kill Quan Chi as well, as leaving that guy playing his own games for a completely different hell was not in her best interests, but unfortunately she was unable to close that particular door just yet. She hoped that lose end didn't manage to annoy her any time soon.

The boat began to slow. "Looks like we've stopped at America," Deliria said. "This is your exit."

"Yeah," Sonya said wearily. "Hey, despite how weird this was, and how weird you can be, it was nice to meet you, Deliria."

"Same, Sonya," she said with a smile. "If I fight myself state side, I'll look you up and say hi."

"Just don't bring any problems like this with you, if you can," Sonya said. "I need a vacation for all this already."

"No promises," Deliria said grinning.

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When Deliria apparated from the boat rather than risk the Order wizards turning on her the moment they stepped on British soil, Raiden watched her vanish with a frown. "Fujin," he called, and the wind blew about him until it formed the wind god who stood beside him.

"Yes, Raiden?"

"A warrior of Earth has claimed the interest of the Netherrealm and Shinnok," he proclaimed.

"They are on the move?"

"The Demon Sorcerer Quan Chi was at the tournament, siding with Outworld," he said. "But he left that girl alive. Shang Tsung also seemed to go out of his way to leave her alive."

"A Mortal Witch must be special to generate such interest," said Fujin thoughtfully.

"She is strange," Raiden said. "I can see sin thick about her, worn like a cloak with pride, yet there is no pull to the Netherrealm or any other realm, like some other entity neither dark nor light has claim on her soul. She is skilled yet it seems as though her power is not fully grown. I propose we keep a closer watch on this enigma as she continues, and work to keep the forces of the Netherrealm from influencing her."

"We shall bring this matter to the Elder Gods," Fujin agreed before disappearing.

"I have a feeling destiny has chosen that girl for great things," Raiden said to himself while he was alone. "The question is whether those things are terrible or wondrous, or somewhere inbetween."

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"Alice Riddle is unkillable until the Prophecy is fulfilled," said Quan Chi, and he handed the Amulet back to his master. "Even if she cannot win, she will survive no matter how unlikely. Death will not touch her unless it is by her true enemy's hands."

"Interesting," the fallen Elder God Shinnok murmured. "If even with my amulet you could not manage it, then it is likely to not work even if I tried directly. We must have patience then, and hold off out own plans for Earthrealm, for now."

"So it would seem," replied the Demon Sorcerer. "But she could be dangerous if we let her grow."

"Perhaps it is best that we play to this prophecy when we can," mused Shinnok. "Perhaps her enemy could use a helping hand when he returns to power?"

"He favors other demons for allies," said Quan Chi.

"We can play nice with the competition in the short term. It is more important to remove our enemies that we can't remove alone then to fight the enemies we can. And the Brotherhood of Shadows can offer him help that the others would not."

 **The End**

 ** _For now…_**

 ** _NOTE:_** _Well, that was a fun distraction, but I will be returning to the regular fic now, with a few additions I didn't plan on but Alice wanted. I meant for Mileena to escape back to Outworld originally, but apparently Alice had other plans. I think I got a bit sloppy in the last bits of the story, but pretty much the moment it was clear Deliria wasn't winning the tournament, things sort of just went by faster. I hope people don't mind too much. Thank you all for reading, and hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it._


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